Action of 16 March 1917

The Action of 16 March 1917 was a naval battle in the British Armed boarding steamer HMS Dundee and the cruiser HMS Achilles engaged and sank the German auxiliary cruiser Leopard.

Action

After leaving port in March disguised as the Norwegian freighter Rena Norge, Leopard set sail on its mission to disrupt Allied commerce. On the 17 March it was stopped in the North Sea by the cruiser HMS Achilles and ordered to proceed to the boarding vessel HMS Dundee for inspection. Heavily outgunned Captain Hans von Laffert, the raider's commander, had no option other to proceed to meet the boarding vessel.

Captain Selwyn Day of Dundee dispatched a launch containing a boarding party with an officer and five men to investigate the mysterious ship. Hans von Laffert realizing he was about to be discovered detained the party and after about an hour fired two torpedoes at Dundee. Dundee manoeuvred out of the way barely in time and the torpedoes missed her by twenty feet. Day ordered his guncrews to open fire and a hail of shells struck Leopard damaging a gun and setting fires. Achilles, hearing the sound of gunfire, returned to the scene and opened fire on the raider as Dundee withdrew. Shortly after the Achilles's arrival Leopard sank with all 319 hands going down with the ship. Damage to the British vessels was light and the only casualties consisted of the six boarding party members who were trapped in Leopard when it sank.