# Bradford City (1) Q-ship



## Davep (Nov 6, 2007)

There were four Bradford City's, here's my research as regards the first ship. I'll add photos later when i can get the images scanned.

The ships were named Bradford City due to a business link between the Reardon-Smith Line of Cardiff and Bradford brothers Fred and Priestley Mitchell. They were drapers based at 13 Harris Street and later Eastern House. 

The relationship must have been strong, as the first Bradford City was owned by the Reardon-Smith subsidiary the Bradford Steamship Company of 1 Pier Head Chambers, Bute Street, Cardiff.

Bradford City (1)

The first Bradford City was built by Ropner & Sons of Stockton-on-Tees. North Eastern Marine Engineering of Sunderland supplied the coal-burning engine. The 3,638-ton ship cost £33,500 to build. She entered the Registrar of Shipping at noon on 12 February 1910. 

The Bradford City had Cardiff as her homeport. She worked the traditional coal out-grain home Atlantic trade routes. On 8 August 1913 her homeport was changed to Bideford in Devon. 

The First World War saw the emergence of the submarine as a major weapon of war. With the German surface fleet being confined to harbour by the might of the Royal Navy, the only effective response the German’s had was its submarines – or U-boats as they were commonly known. The U-boats would often surface to sink a merchant ship by gunfire, rather than waste a precious torpedo. The Royal Navy responded by fitting out merchant vessels with hidden guns. They became known as Q-ships and during the early years of the war they accounted for a third of the U-boats sunk. 

In the autumn of 1915 the Bradford City was requisitioned by the Royal Navy to be converted into a Q-ship. She was fitted with two four-inch guns, a 2½-pounder gun and a maxim machine gun. Looking like the innocent merchant ship she used to be, the Bradford City hoped to entice a U-boat to the surface. When the submarine came within range, the guns would be uncovered and the crew would hope to sink the submarine before it could dive. 

The Bradford City commenced service as a Q-ship on 16 October 1915, operating out of Gibraltar. With Lieutenant-commander Robert CC Smart at the helm, she patrolled the Mediterranean. 

The ship used dummy funnels, names and colours to avoid being recognised as a Q-ship. As well as using her own name, she also became Ballistan and Saros. Panic parties were formed, when a U-boat came into sight they would man the lifeboats in a chaotic manner and abandon their ship. The gun crews would remain hidden, willing the U-boat to come within range of the guns. As soon as that happened, the white ensign would race up the mast and the guns would be uncovered. The guns crews would then open rapid fire on the U-boat, hoping to sink the submarine before she could dive to safety. 

On 30 October 1916 the Bradford City was thirteen miles off Cape Sebastian, near Cadiz, when she was attacked by U34. The engine room was ordered to make smoke to make it appear as though the ship was trying to flee. At the same time the engines were ordered to slow. However, Kapitan-Leutnant Claus Rucker on U34 was cautious and didn’t close the Bradford City. The panic party was ordered to abandon ship. As they began piling blankets into the lifeboats the U-boat began shelling the ship. Lieut-Commander Smart ordered the white ensign raised and the guns opened fire on the submarine. The U-boats gun crew made a bolt for the hatches and the submarine rapidly left the area. The crew of the Bradford City quickly set to work changing the appearance of the ship. They painted the funnel and hoisted the Spanish flag. However, no further attacks were made on the ship. Incidentally, the Q-ship Privet sank U34 in November 1918.

Three days after their encounter with U34 the Bradford City found itself in action again. On 2 November 1916 the ship was approaching the Gibraltar-Malta shipping lanes near the Cani Rocks. At 16.30 a shot was heard and a submarine spotted 7,000 yards off the starboard beam. The Bradford City changed course and steered straight towards the U-boat. Several shots passed close over the bridge, before one hit the ship. The submarine slowly turned to get on a parallel heading with the ship. For fourteen excruciating minutes Lieut-Commander Smart tried to manoeuver the U-boat into a favourable position regarding the setting sun. At 16.44 the Bradford City opened fire at 5,500 yards. The U-boat crew, some of who had been sitting around smoking, rapidly disappeared below. Ten rounds were fired at the U-boat before she dived at 16.50. The crew of the Bradford City were convinced that they had hit the U-boat and some thought her sunk. However, the U-boat surfaced once again, only to submerge before the guns could open fire again. At 17.15 a torpedo passed just ahead of the ships bows. The Bradford City zigzagged at full speed and an anxious time was spent until midnight because of a full moon. However, no further attacks were made. 

On 16 August 1917 the Bradford City was on patrol in the Straits of Messina between Italy and Sicily. Eight miles off San Remo she was torpedoed by the Austro-Hungarian submarine U28. Though the ship sank quickly, all the crew were picked up unharmed by a French fishing boat. 

The first Bradford City lies in position 38.10N, 15.36E on the seabed. The submarine U28, captain Zdenko Hudcek, was interred at the end of the war in the Italian port of Pola. She was scrapped in 1919.


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## chrisna (Feb 27, 2008)

*MV Bradford City*

I have been looking into the Bradford City built in 1936 and sunk in 1941. There are two know survivors still alive - Leonard Ball and Alfred Blackall. Any information / contacts would be interesting.


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## Paul Theakston (Jun 29, 2009)

*Bradford City*

The fourth Bradford City was sunk in the South Atlantic in Jan/Feb 1941 by U68 under the command of Captain Mehrtens. At the time it was the most southerly sinking of the war. She was carrying a cargo of sugar from the East coast of Africa, and was on her way home solo to Liverpool via Cape Town. My late father in law, Austen Betley, was the Marconi radio operator aboard. The crew took to two boats, and as the ship was sinking, the submarine surfaced. The crew expected machine gun fire, but instead the Captain enquired if they had water, and gave them a course to steer to the nearest land, which was the Skeleton Coast in Namibia, before submerging and going on his way. The two boats became separated, both reaching the coast, with one heading North before coming to land safely. The second, with Father in law on board, made landfall on the Skeleton Coast, and thanks to the seamanship of Coxswain Lootit went in through the surf backwards trailing their collected shirts as a sea anchor. They then camped on the beach for a number of days under the upturned life boat with father in laws pyjamas flying off an oar as a flag, until they were spotted by a random South African Airforce patrol plane which had decided to cruise on up the coast into Namibia for ten minutes extra on a whim. An expedition was sent in to rescue them.

Captain Mehrtens went on into the Indian Ocean where he accidentally sank a ship carrying women and children back from India to Briatin, and acted again in a very gentlemanly manner. It is the subject of a book entitled "Goodnight, and sorry for sinking you", being his final words on their subject!

After the war, he made a career in lifting/salvaging sunken ships!


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## Paul Theakston (Jun 29, 2009)

*MV Bradford City*

Correction on sinking date, plus position:

Date November 1st 1941
Position: 22degrees 59 minutes South 09 degrees 49minutes East
Tonnage: 4953 tonnes


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## steve mclean (Sep 2, 2009)

very very interesting i am a seamam of 35 years and from bradford and abradford city fan and never did know of any ships of that name love to see or get some photos bye steve mclean [stevie bradford]


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