The Baralongincidents were two incidents during the First World War in August and September 1915, involving the Royal Navy Q-ship HMS Baralong and two German U-boats. Baralong sank U-27, which had been attacking a nearby merchant ship, the Nicosian. About a dozen of the crewmen managed to escape from the sinking submarine and Lieutenant Godfrey Herbert, commanding officer of Baralong, ordered the survivors to be fired on. All the survivors of U-27's sinking, including several who had reached the Nicosian, were shot by Baralong's crew and attached marines.
Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them.
Jun'yō Maru (順陽丸) was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1913, served a succession of British owners until 1927, and was then in Japanese ownership until a Royal Navy submarine sank her in 1944.
Tango Maru (丹後丸) was a cargo motor ship that was built in Germany in 1926 and sunk off the coast of Bali in 1944. She was launched as Rendsburg for the Deutsch-Australische Dampfschiffs-Gesellschaft (DADG), which in 1926 merged with Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG).
Ellerman Lines was a UK cargo and passenger shipping company that operated from the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. It was founded in the late 19th century, and continued to expand by acquiring smaller shipping lines until it became one of the largest shipping firms in the World. Setbacks occurred through heavy losses to its merchant fleet in the First and Second World Wars but were overcome in each case.
HMS Manica was a merchant steamship that was built in England in 1901 and was scrapped in Japan in 1931. She was built as a dry cargo ship but spent the latter part of her career as an oil tanker.
SM U-27 was a German Type U-27 U-boat built for service in the Imperial German Navy. She was launched on 14 July 1913, and commissioned on 8 May 1914 with Kapitänleutnant Bernd Wegener in command.
Shin'yō Maru was a cargo steamship that was built in 1894, had a fifty-year career under successive British, Australian, Chinese and Greek owners, was captured by Japan in the Second World War, and sunk by a United States Navy submarine in 1944.
SS Manistee was an Elders & Fyffes Ltd banana boat that was launched in 1920. She was one of a numerous class of similar banana boats built for Elders & Fyffes in the 1920s.
Komagata Maru was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1890, was in German ownership until 1913, and then had a succession of Japanese owners until she was wrecked in 1926. She was launched as Stubbenhuk, renamed Sicilia in 1894, Komagata Maru in 1913 and Heian Maru in 1924.
HMS Port Quebec was a British motor ship that was designed and launched in 1939 to be the refrigerated cargo ship Port Quebec, but completed in 1940 as an auxuiliary minelayer. In 1944 she was converted into an aircraft component repair ship and renamed HMS Deer Sound. In 1947 she was returned to her owner, Port Line, and completed as a cargo ship. She was scrapped in Taiwan in 1968.
The Kawasaki-type oiler was a type of oiler from Japan, serving during the 1930s and World War II. They do not have an official class name. Therefore, this article uses common class names. And, this type has some variants. This article handles them collectively.
Kronprinzessin Cecilie was a Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) ocean liner. She was launched in Schleswig-Holstein in 1905. Her scheduled route was between Hamburg and Mexico.
SM U-41 was one of the 329 submarines serving in the Imperial German Navy in World War I. U-41 engaged in naval warfare and took part in the First Battle of the Atlantic.
Captain Godfrey Herbert, DSO and bar, was an officer of the Royal Navy who was sometimes referred to as 'Baralong Herbert', in reference to accusations of war crimes subsequent to the Baralong incidents, during World War I. In a naval career stretching from 1898 to 1919, and with a return to duty between 1939 and 1943 in World War II, Herbert had several close encounters with death.
SS Wakool was a refrigerated cargo liner that was launched in England in 1898. She belonged to Wilhelm Lund's Blue Anchor Line until 1910, when P&O took over the company. She was a troopship in the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902. In 1913 a Japanese company bought the ship and renamed her Kwanto Maru. In 1914 she was a Japanese depot ship in the siege of Tsingtao. In 1917 the French government bought her and renamed her Le Myre de Villers. The French government sold her in 1923, and she was scrapped in Italy later that year.
SS Teiryu Maru was a steam cargo ship that was launched in England in 1914 as Northwestern Miller. Furness, Withy & Co managed her until 1927, when Norddeutscher Lloyd bought her and renamed her Augsburg.
HMS Malvernian was an Ellerman Lines cargo steamship that was built in 1937. In January 1941 she was converted into an ocean boarding vessel. That July she sank after a German air attack crippled her in the Atlantic Ocean.
SS Florian was an Ellerman Lines cargo steamship that was launched in 1939 and completed in 1940. A U-boat sank her with all hands in 1941 in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Nagoya Maru was a Japanese cargo steamship that was built in Nagasaki in 1932. In the Second World War the Imperial Japanese Navy used her first as a submarine depot ship and then to transport aircraft. A United States Navy submarine sank her in 1944.
