SMS Triumph was a Canadian motorized stern trawler that was captured by the Imperial German Navy U-boat in 1918. The Nova Scotia newspaper The Sydney Record called the German-crewed Triumph a "Hun Sea Wolf!" Over the course of a few days it sank several fishing vessels before itself being scuttled on 25 August 1918.
Under Captain Myrrhe the trawler left Portland, Maine on 17 August 1918 to fish the Middle Bank about 30miles south southeast of Canso, Nova Scotia. On 20 August 1918 she had her nets out making it difficult to maneuver when the Imperial German Navy U-boat surfaced next to and captured the Canadian vessel. It took only 25 minutes after the sub surfaced to seize the ship, arm it and man it with a 15-person German prize crew.
The Canadian crew was made prisoner and forced into confinement aboard U-156. The Triumphs steward later recounted for the Kennebec Journal, "The Germans were so polite that it started getting on our nerves. They offered us brandy and cigarettes while they used our trawler to blow up fishing boats all around the Bay of Fundy." The trawler then spent the next few days raiding off the Canadian coast sinking six ships in the Grand Banks area. Triumph was a familiar sight on the coast so when it approached the fishing vessels they were not alarmed and did not try to run.
The captain of Francis J. O'Hara Jr. told U.S. Navy officials that when Triumph initially told his ship to prepare to be boarded he thought it was a joke and ignored it. The perception was shattered when machine guns on Triumph fired in front of the American's bow. The Canadian crew were eventually forced from U-156 onto another captured fishing vessel and ordered to return to land.
| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage[1] | Fate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 August 1918 | A. Piatt Andrew |  United States | 141 | Sunk | |
| 20 August 1918 | Francis J. O'hara, Jr. | United States | 117 | Sunk | |
| 20 August 1918 | Lucille M. Schnare |  Canada | 121 | Sunk | |
| 20 August 1918 | Pasadena | Canada | 119 | Sunk | |
| 21 August 1918 | Sylvania | United States | 136 | Sunk | |
| 22 August 1918 | Notre Dame De La Garde |  France | 147 | Sunk |
. Paul G. Halpern. A Naval History of World War I. 1995. UCL Press. 9781857284980. - Total pages: 591