HMS Prize

A painting depicting Prize shelling U-93
History
Imperial Germany
NameElse
BuilderE.V. Smit & Zoon
Launched1901
FateCaptured by Royal Navy, 4 August 1914
United Kingdom
NameHMS Prize
NamesakePrize
Commissioned25 April 1917
RefitFebruary–March 1917 (conversion to Q ship)
FateSunk, 13 August 1917
General characteristics
TypeQ ship
Displacement277 long tons (281 t)
Length122 ft 6 in (37.3 m)
Beam24 ft 0 in (7.3 m)
Draught10 ft 5 in (3.2 m)
Propulsion
Complement27
Armament

HMS Prize was a schooner converted to a Q ship during the First World War and commanded by Lieutenant William Sanders of the Royal Naval Reserve.

Originally a German vessel called Else, she was captured by the Royal Navy in the first days of the First World War. In April 1917 she was commissioned into the Royal Navy as a Q ship with the name HMS First Prize, later to be shortened to HMS Prize. During her first patrol, Prize was involved in an engagement with a U-boat, U-93 for which Sanders received the Victoria Cross while the rest of the crew were also awarded various medals. Prize was destroyed by a torpedo on 13 August 1917, with all crew lost.