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Mike: The BIRTLEY (not HMS) (Official No.122845) was a steel hulled 1,438-ton British steam cargo-ship that was registered at Newcastle ?upon-Tyne. She had measured: 74.75m by length, an 11.15m-beam and a draught of 4.77-metres. Wood, Skinner & Co Ltd. built her at Newcastle in 1906 for the Burnett Steam Ship Co. Ltd. and they owned her at the time of loss. Her single steel propeller was powered by a 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine that developed 167hp using one 1SB 4CF boiler. Her cylinder diameters measured: 48.26cm, 78.74cm & 129.54cm, (19in, 31in & 51-inches). The machinery, which was built by North East Marine Engineering Co. Ltd at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, gave the vessel a maximum speed of 8-knots. She had one deck and a superstructure consisting of a 39.01m-quarterdeck, 3.05m-bridgedeck and 7.01m-forecastle. The vessel was also armed for defence with one large stern-mounted deck-gun that fired 5.90-kilo shells (13-pounders). Fianl voyage: On 4 January 1918, the BIRTLEY was in ballast on passage from Dunkirk for Blyth when SM UB 38 torpedoed and sunk her. At no time was the U-boat seen by the steamship?s crew. The vessel had left Dunkirk on 1st January, with a crew of eighteen and was in Yarmouth Roads by 3 January, leaving during daylight the following day; she was steaming north when a torpedo detonated against her at 2345hrs. The captain and pilot on board the French steamship OUTREAU, just some 200-metres away witnessed the enormous explosion. The BIRTLEY went down almost at once taking everyone down with her. The reason the ship had exploded was only revealed after WWI, when the U-boat?s records were produced. The wreck has never been located to date.