Empire ship


An Empire ship is a merchant ship that was given a name beginning with "Empire" in the service of the Government of the United Kingdom during and after World War II. Most were used by the Ministry of War Transport, which owned them and contracted their operation to various shipping companies of the British Merchant Navy.
Empire ships came from two main sources: new construction, and capture and seizure. New Empire ships were built for the MoWT or obtained from the United States to increase Britain's shipping capacity and offset losses to German U-boats, commerce raiders, bombing and other enemy actions in the tonnage war Germany was waging against Britain's sea transport around the globe. Others were captured or seized from enemy powers and some were acquired by requisition or normal purchase or lease.
New Empire ship construction represented an enormous undertaking that included classes of freighters, tankers, aircraft carriers, fast cargo liners, tank landing ships, deep-sea salvage and rescue tugs and several other categories. Total production numbered in the hundreds.
Empire ships were supplements to Britain's normal peacetime merchant fleet, swelling its wartime numbers to 12,000, then the largest merchant ship fleet in the world. Approximately 4,000 ships on the British register were lost between 1939 and 1945, a considerable number being sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic.

Introduction of standard specifications

Significantly before Britain entered the Second World War on 3 September 1939, preparations had been in hand to put the shipping industry of Britain on a war footing. All shipbuilders had specified the capability of their yards to produce cargo ships, cargo liners, tramps, tankers, colliers, coasters and naval ships.
The Ministry of Shipping, formed in October 1939 quickly adopted a standard naming system, applying the prefix "Empire" for all merchant ships built in Great Britain for the Government. With some exceptions, the prefix was also extended to purchased or requisitioned ships and to those acquired as prizes.
From 1 February 1940, the Admiralty took control of all shipbuilding and repairs, including merchant shipping. From that date, ships could only be built either on orders of the Admiralty or, for private owners, under licences that required the ships to be built to Admiralty specifications of wartime requirements.

Types of ships built for the MOWT

Tramps

were built to a standardised prefabricated design. The ships were in length with a beam of, with a deadweight of around 10,000 tons and a speed of around. The first standard to be used was the PF of about. These incorporated one 30-ton, two 10-ton and eight 5-ton derricks for cargo handling.
The PF design was introduced in 1942 to handle heavier military equipment, and was equipped with one 50-ton, one 30-ton, five 10-ton and five 5-ton derricks. PF were around 7,320 gross tons. The later PF was similar to PF, at 7,370 tons, but could be distinguished by a full-height poop. Some had of refrigerated space.

Coasters

Empire F was a series of small coasters of in length with a gross tonnage of 410 GT. with one single diesel engine, two holds and two 1.5 tons derricks. The hull was the same as the small coastal tanker series ; despite being a completely separate class from the tankers, the dry cargo Empire Fs were always known by coasting seamen as "CHANTs", possibly because they had the same hull form and initially all the tankers were sold to foreign owners and therefore there was no conflict in nomenclature.
Accommodation was good because the five berth cabin for the DEMS gunners was available and several vessels were modified after the war to make better use of all the spaces. The major shortfall of the class was undoubtedly their poor deadweight carrying capacity coupled with their varied engine fit, particularly those with the Petters engine which caused problems in all the vessels in which they were fitted.
Four Empire F class and one Empire Shelt class vessels crossed the Atlantic in the late fifties for service on the St. Lawrence River: Empire Fairway, Empire Fabric, Empire Fang, Empire Fathom, and Empire Seagreen.

Coastal tankers

The beach craft were refuelled by a shuttle service of coastal tankers that bunkered in southern UK ports whilst five 12,000 ton tankers carried the water, two always at the beachhead with the remaining three in transit. From the two tankers at the beachhead other smaller tankers then shipped the water to depot ships and warships they also replenished the LBWs. This method of replenishment was in operation until D-Day plus forty when it became possible to use the captured channel ports. Their respective peacetime crews manned the Store and Replenishment crews of all the ships and barges albeit dressed in naval uniform; the ten CHANTS were allocated to the Beach services of the Royal Navy.
The bulk of these ships came under the Ministry of War Transport and carried oil to the storage tanks at Port-en-Bessin, others under control of the Royal Navy carried diesel, petrol and water, all destined for the advancing armies. This particular class of ship was not renowned for its stability and when loaded had to carry much ballast, as well as cargo in their tanks they also carried up to ten tons of lubricating oil on deck and were well armed considering their vulnerability. On D-Day plus three Chant 60 turned turtle when manoeuvring under full helm, fortunately her entire crew were rescued later, carrying a full load of petrol she was towed away from the beach and sunk by a British destroyer. Chant 69, this time carrying water performed a similar evolution a short while later. It was then decided to bring all the class into the confines of the gooseberry shelters until a Royal Navy Constructor could carry out stability tests.
Others carried out sterling service, Chant 23 lying off Sword Beach had been hit by an enemy shell in her engine room and disabled but still continued to fuel anything that came alongside. Chant 7 was driven ashore after capsizing during the gales of 18/20 June when loaded with petrol and Chant 26 drove ashore on the crest of a wave, straight up the beach, through a hedge and landed in a field the right way up. After discharging her precious cargo to army bowsers she was dragged back to her natural element and towed home, the author Captain E. E. Sigart made the observation that Chant 26 was the only British merchantman to fly proudly the Red Ensign and discharge her cargo, literally in a foreign field.
Chant 24 beached at Le Hamel carrying 200 tons of oil fuel for the RAF needed for the building of runways previously LBO's had carried out this duty with the muscle power supplied by the infantry on their hand pumps. Finally some of the Chants were used as accommodation ships as there uses diminished and after the landings had been completed most returned to the UK and after the war were sold on to commercial operators.
In wartime all ships carried the prefix "Chant" followed by a number. A total of 43 were built and were named Chant 1–12; Chant 22–28; Chant 42–45 and Chant 50–69. Chant 7, Chant 61, Chant 63 and Chant 69 were lost during the war. They were all built in 1944 and had a gross register of just over 400 tons and a deadweight of 400 tons. They measured 148 ft oa by 27 ft beam. They had oil engines giving them a speed of 7½ knots. Chant 12 and Chant 28 were sold to France in 1946 retaining their names. The remaining survivors served various ship owners until their eventual scrapping mostly in the fifties and sixties. The last Chant vessel was scrapped in 2002.

Tankers

The 'Ocean' type tankers were sometimes known as the 'Three twelves type', being about 12,000 tons deadweight with a speed of around and a fuel consumption of 12 tons per day. They were used for the transport of fuel and also for refuelling at sea. Some were fitted with triple expansion steam engines; others were diesel powered.
The 'Norwegian' type were slightly larger and were constructed only by two builders, Sir James Laing & Sons, at Sunderland and by Furness Shipbuilding Co, Ltd. The first of the type were fitted with triple expansion steam engines, later models with diesel engines and finally with diesel engines.
The design for the 'Wave' prefixed faster tankers was introduced in 1943. With a speed of, these fast tankers were able to operate outside the convoys.

Aircraft carriers

or CAM ships, were merchant cargo ships operating with the convoys and converted to launch a Sea Hurricane fighter by means of a catapult. As there was no means to land the Hurricane on the ship again, it was only possible for a single launch and the aircraft then had to return to land or ditch in the sea. However they did provide important convoy cover when no other air cover was available. Eight requisitioned private ships and 27 Empire ships served as CAM ships. Ten of the Empire ships were lost in service.
Merchant aircraft carriers or MAC ships superseded the CAM ships. Their role was defensive in protection of the convoys. Unlike the CAM ships, they carried a flight deck so the aircraft were able to land again. The merchant air carriers were adapted standard grain ships or oil tankers. The grain ships had a flight deck of to ft and a breadth of. A hangar on the lower deck was equipped with a lift to the flight deck and accommodated four Fairey Swordfish aircraft. The oil tankers had longer flight decks – – but no hangars. Three Swordfish reconnaissance planes were stowed at the aft end of the flight deck.

Fast cargo liners

In the early part of the war shipyard capacity was fully engaged with naval ships, including aircraft carriers, repairs to ships following Dunkirk, and orders for tankers and tramps. By 1941 there was criticism that ships being built were too slow. A few fast ships were however being built; many of them with refrigerated capacity. In 1942 a new standard for a fast cargo liner of around 9,900 gross tons was introduced with a length of and a breadth of. Thirteen "Empire"-prefixed standard class cargo liners were completed. Another was laid down intending to be given the prefix but was acquired by the Royal Netherlands Government and completed as Modjokerto.
  • Non-standard cargo liners: Empire Gala, Empire Pride, and Empire Trust.
  • Refrigerated cargo liners: Empire Abercorn, Empire Clarendon, Empire Grace, Empire Hope, Empire Might, , Empire Wessex and Empire Wisdom.
  • 1942 onwards, standard fast cargo liners : Empire Allenby, Empire Captain, Empire Chieftain, Empire Dynasty, Empire Haig, Empire Joy, Empire Kitchener,, Empire Paragon, Empire Regent, Empire Rawlinson and Empire Wilson''.