The ship was captured by Germany in 1916 and her captain, Charles Fryatt was executed after the Germans discovered his attempted ramming.

On 3 March 1915,[4] he evaded a German U-boat for which he was awarded a gold watch by the Great Eastern Railway.

On 28 March 1915, Brussels was ordered to stop by U-33 when she was near the Maas Lightship, but Fryatt attempted to ram the U-boat, which was forced to crash dive.

Fryatt was interned at Zeebrugge where he was arrested after engravings on his watches revealed his previous actions.

Brussels was taken over by the Kaiserliche Marine and renamed Brugge, serving as a depôt ship at Zeebrugge.

[3] On 23 April 1918, the Zeebrugge Raid took place, and the ship was torpedoed several times by the British, but did not sink.

On 17 May, Brugge left Antwerp assisted by three tugs on a three-day journey to South Shields.