SS Assyrian ( 1914 ) SS " Assyrian was a cargo ship that was built in Hamburg for German owners in 1914 , transferred to British owners in 1920 as war reparations and sunk by a U - boat in 1940 . She was launched as MS " Fritz , and when she changed owners in 1920 she was renamed MS " Assyrian " . She had been built as a motor ship but in 1925 she was converted to a steamship and became SS " Assyrian " . From MS " Fritz " to SS " Assyrian " . Blohm + Voss of Hamburg built the ship , completing her as MS " Fritz " in August 1914 for Woermann - Linie , who registered her in Hamburg . In 1919 she was designated for war reparations and in 1920 she was acquired by the British Ellerman and Papayanni Lines , who renamed her " Assyrian " and registered her in Liverpool . In 1925 Ellerman ' s had her converted from diesel to steam propulsion with a pair of three - cylinder triple - expansion steam engines built by Cooper and Greig of Dundee , Scotland and rated at a combined power output of 280 NHP . Steam came from a pair of 180 lb / in single - ended boilers with a combined heating surface of , heated by a total of six corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of . Second World War career . Within weeks of the UK entering the Second World War , " Assyrian " was sailing in convoys , starting with Convoy OA - 7 in September 1939 which assembled off the coast of Southend and dispersed in the North Atlantic . " Assyrian " continued to Gibraltar , where she joined Convoy Green 4 . Green 4 was bound for Port Said in Egypt , but " Assyrian " sailed with it only as far as Malta . From December 1939 until May 1940 she worked between Gibraltar and Liverpool , making outward voyages from Liverpool to Gibraltar in Convoy OG - 15 in January and Convoy OG - 24 in April . " Assyrian " was then transferred to transatlantic convoys between the UK and Canada , starting with Convoy OB - 162 from Liverpool in June 1940 and returning the next month in Convoy HX - 55 from Halifax , Nova Scotia . In August she went to the USA , sailing with Convoy OB - 195 from Liverpool until it dispersed at sea . Final voyage and sinking . In September 1940 " Assyrian " loaded 3 , 700 tons of grain and sailed from New Orleans to Bermuda , where she joined Convoy BHX - 77 to Halifax . There BHX - 77 joined Convoy HX - 77 to Liverpool , but " Assyrian " went to Sydney , Nova Scotia where she joined Convoy SC - 7 , which left for Liverpool on 5 October . " Assyrian " s Master was Reginald Kearon and she carried the convoy commodore , retired vice admiral Lachlan Mackinnon . At first the convoy had only one escort ship , the . A wolf pack of U - boat s found the convoy on 16 October and quickly overwhelmed it , sinking many ships over the next few days . On 19 October , as the convoy was in the Western Approaches , a U - boat was sighted 100 yards ahead of " Assyrian " . She went full ahead to ram her , making for the first time in her career . She chased the enemy ship for 40 minutes but her main gun was astern and she was unable to bring any of her small guns to bear . The U - boat eventually escaped , leaving " Assyrian " ahead of the convoy and unescorted . , commanded by Fritz Frauenheim , sighted " Assyrian " west by north of Barra Head , Outer Hebrides . At 0122 hours " U - 101 " fired three bow torpedo es at the convoy , followed two minutes later by a stern torpedo . Frauenheim later reported four hits and four ships sunk . In fact two of the bow torpedoes missed , but one hit " Assyrian " on her starboard side , stopping her engines and putting out her lights . " U - 101 " s stern torpedo hit the cargo ship . Both of " Assyrian " s lifeboats were damaged in the explosion and most of the surviving crew took to the life - rafts . A sinking merchant ship drifted down upon " Assyrian " , her cargo of pit prop s rolling off and further damaging " Assyrian " and sinking one of the life - rafts . A small party including Captain Kearon , his Chief Officer and Admiral Mackinnon were stranded aboard the sinking ship . They made a raft from whatever they could find and launched it as " Assyrian " sank . The raft disintegrated as it hit the water , but most of the occupants managed to cling to pieces of wreckage . Out of a complement of 51 , 17 were killed : 15 crew members and two Royal Navy personnel . The rescued 34 survivors : her Master , the Commodore , three Royal Navy personnel , 20 crew members and nine passengers and landed them at Liverpool . Captain Kearon was awarded the Lloyd ' s War Medal for Bravery at Sea .