SS Tubantia
SS Tubantia
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Tubantia |
| Owner: |
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| Port of registry: |
 Amsterdam
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| Route: | Europe – South America |
| Builder: | Alexander Stephen and Sons, Glasgow |
| Cost: | £300,000 |
| Yard number: | 455 |
| Launched: | 15 November 1913 |
| Completed: | March 1914 |
| Fate: | sunk by SM UB-13, 16 March 1916 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | ocean liner |
| Tonnage: | 13,911 GRT |
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 65 ft 11 in (20.1 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × quadruple-expansion steam engines |
| Speed: | 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h) |
| Capacity: |
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| Crew: | 294 |
SS Tubantia was an ocean liner for Royal Holland Lloyd (Dutch: Koninklijke Hollandsche Lloyd) built in 1913 by Alexander Stephen and Sons of Glasgow. She was built as a fast mail and passenger steamer for service between the Netherlands and South America. Tubantia was a sister ship of Gelria, also of Royal Holland Lloyd.
Tubantia was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine UB-13 on 16 March 1916. As a vessel of the neutral Netherlands, her sinking caused great fury amongst the Dutch public. The Germans initially claimed that Tubantia must have been sunk by a mine or a British torpedo, but when fragments of a German torpedo were found in one of Tubantia's lifeboats, the Germans claimed that UB-13 had fired the torpedo on 6 March at a British warship but it had remained active until hitting Tubantia ten days later. To redirect Dutch anger over Tubantia's sinking, Germany spread rumors of an impending British invasion of the Netherlands, which one author called a "propaganda coup".
Germany initially offered a settlement of £300,000—the ship's original cost—to Royal Holland Lloyd, but was rejected. In 1922, an international arbitration committee awarded the company £830,000 compensation from Germany for the loss of the ship.
This was followed by an attempt to recover a fortune in gold coins from the wreck, which was the subject of a landmark court case, but the salvage operation was unsuccessful.
Tubantia was ordered by Royal Holland Lloyd from the Scottish shipbuilding firm Alexander Stephen and Sons of Glasgow. The 13,911 GRT ship was about 560 feet (170 m) long (overall) and 66 feet (20 m) abeam. She was powered by twin quadruple-expansion steam engines powered by three double-ended and six single-ended boilers. Her top speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h) exceeded the design requirements.
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