Imperial Transport at anchor, probably in Australia | |
History | |
---|---|
Name | Imperial Transport |
Owner | Houlder Line |
Port of registry | United Kingdom, Glasgow |
Builder | Blythswood Shipbuilding Co., Glasgow |
Launched | 17 February 1931 |
Completed | 1931 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Sold to Victor Jenssens Rederi A/S, 1947 |
Name | Imperial Transport |
Owner | Victor Jenssens Rederi A/S |
Operator | Simonsen & Astrup |
Port of registry | Norway, Oslo |
Acquired | 1947 |
Renamed | Mesna |
Fate | Sold to Skibs-A/S Agnes, 1949 |
Name | Mesna |
Owner | Skibs-A/S Agnes |
Operator | Einar Saanum |
Port of registry | Norway, Mandal |
Acquired | 1949 |
Renamed | Rona |
Fate | Scrapped, December 1958 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Oil tanker |
Tonnage | |
Length | 459 ft 7 in (140.1 m) |
Beam | 60 ft (18.3 m) |
Draught | 27 ft 11 in (8.5 m) |
Depth | 34 ft 5 in (10.5 m) |
Decks | 2 |
Installed power | 2 × diesel engines (633 nhp) |
Propulsion | 1 × screw |
MV Imperial Transport was an oil tanker built in the early 1930s for the Houlder Line. During World War II, the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine in early 1940 and broke in half. The stern section was saved and a new forward half was built and mated to the ship, which returned to service in 1941. Imperial Transport was torpedoed again in early 1942, but her crew was able to get her back to port. She was repaired in the United States and was back in service by early 1943. The ship was sold to a Norwegian company in 1947, sold again two years later and finally scrapped, in 1958.
Imperial Transport was an 8,022- gross register ton (GRT) oil tanker. She had a net tonnage of 4,830 and a length between perpendiculars of 459 feet 7 inches (140.1 m). The ship had a beam of 60 feet (18.3 m) and a draught of 27 feet 11 inches (8.5 m). She was powered by a pair of four-stroke, eight-cylinder, diesel engines, built by the Northeastern Marine Engineering Co. with a total power of 633 nominal horsepower. [1]
Imperial Transport was completed in 1931 for the Houlder Line. [1] On 11 February 1940, the ship was steaming without a cargo, bound for Trinidad, when she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-53. The ship broke in half about five minutes after the impact and the crew abandoned ship (two drowning in the process). Part of the crew re-boarded the stern later that night and the rest of the crew followed. After waiting for the weather to moderate, they got underway again on 13 February and encountered four British destroyers late on the 14th. HMS Kingston was tasked to screen the tanker as she headed for port. The weather deteriorated on the morning of the 15th and the tanker could not make any headway. An attempt to rig a tow by the destroyer failed and she took off the crew during the night. A tugboat and the destroyer Forester arrived, but the weather was too bad to re-board the stern section and Forester took the crew to Scapa Flow. Two more tugs were needed before the stern section could be towed to the Firth of Clyde and beached on the Isle of Bute on 26 February. [2]
The stern section was later moved to Barclay Curle's dockyard at Elderslie where the damaged portions of the hull were trimmed away. A new forward half was built at Port Glasgow by William Hamilton and Company and mated to the stern section in 1941. The tanker returned to service in June. [2]
Imperial Transport was assigned to Convoy ON 77 when she was torpedoed by U-94 on the morning of 25 March 1942. The two torpedoes disabled the engines and steering gear and caused massive flooding. The crew abandoned ship and was picked up by the French corvette Aconit, but a skeleton crew went back aboard that evening and unsuccessfully tried restart the engines. They returned the following day and managed to pump out some of her flooded compartments and get underway. The ship arrived at St. John's on 30 March where she received temporary repairs. Imperial Transport left St. John's on 24 August for New York and arrived on 5 September. She was repaired at Hoboken, New Jersey by Todd Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. and returned to service in February 1943 with a new spar deck installed for additional deck cargo. [2]
The ship was sold to Victor Jenssens Rederi A/S of Oslo, Norway in 1947 and renamed Mesna. She was then sold to Skibs-A/S Agnes of Mandal two years later and renamed Rona. The ship was broken up in Hamburg, West Germany, in December 1958. [2]
USS Whale (SS-239), a Gato-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for a whale, an extremely large, aquatic mammal that is fishlike in form. The USS Cachalot (SS-170) commissioned on 1 December 1933 preceded the Whale.
USS Trigger (SS-237) was a Gato-class submarine, the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the triggerfish.
USS Abner Read (DD-526) was a Fletcher-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy, named after Lieutenant Commander Abner Read, who fought in the American Civil War. The ship fought in World War II, seeing action in the Aleutian Islands Campaign and in 1943 she survived hitting a mine that blew off her stern. After repairs, she returned to service and operated in support of Allied forces in the New Guinea campaign and the Battle of Leyte. She was sunk in an air attack off Leyte on 1 November 1944.
USS Alameda, was a United States Navy tanker in commission from 1919 to 1922. She was built as the civilian tanker SS Alameda, but transferred to the U.S. Navy after completion in 1919. She was sold for commercial service and operated under the names SS Olean and SS Sweep before she was transferred to the Navy again in World War II as USS Silver Cloud (IX-143).
USS Nelson (DD-623), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral Charles P. Nelson, who served during the Spanish–American War and World War I.
USS Fogg (DE/DER-57), a Buckley-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1947. She was scrapped in 1966.
USS Murphy (DD-603) was a Benson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Lieutenant John McLeod Murphy.
Sakawa (酒匂) was the last of four Agano-class light cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Fuel shortages crippled the IJN's operations by the time the ship was completed in late 1944 and she never left Japanese waters. After the war, Sakawa was used to ferry Japanese troops home until she was selected in early 1946 to be expended for nuclear weapon tests during Operation Crossroads. The ship was used as a target during the first bomb test on 1 July and sank the following day.
HMS Sea Nymph was a S-class submarine of the third batch built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in July 1942, she spent the majority of her career patrolling the waters off Norway in the North Sea, then was sent to the Pacific but was forced back due to technical problems.
USS Bridgeport (AD-10/ID-3009) was a destroyer tender in the United States Navy during World War I and the years after. She was a twin-screw, steel-hulled passenger and cargo steamship built in 1901 at Vegesack, Germany as SS Breslau of the North German Lloyd line. Breslau was one of the seven ships of the Köln class of ships built for the Bremen to Baltimore and Galveston route.
MV Atheltemplar was a motor tanker built by Lithgows, Port Glasgow. She was launched on 15 April 1930, registered in Liverpool and operated by the United Molasses Co Ltd of London. She was transferred to Athel Lines on 1 January 1940.
HMS Forester was one of nine F-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the early 1930s. Although assigned to the Home Fleet upon completion, the ship was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1935–36 during the Abyssinia Crisis. A few weeks after the start of World War II in September 1939, she helped to sink one German submarine and then participated in the Second Battle of Narvik during the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. Forester was sent to Gibraltar in mid-1940 and formed part of Force H where she participated in the attack on the Vichy French ships at Mers-el-Kébir and the Battle of Dakar between escorting the aircraft carriers of Force H as they flew off aircraft for Malta and covering convoys resupplying and reinforcing the island until late 1941. During this time the ship helped to sink another German submarine.
MV British Prudence was a tanker built by Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd. of Sunderland in 1939 and operated by the British Tanker Company. A U-boat sank her in 1942 off the coast of Newfoundland. She was a victim of the Second Happy Time: the Kriegsmarine's Operation Drumbeat to sink Allied merchant shipping in the Western Atlantic
Sylvan Arrow was a steam tanker built in 1917–1918 by New York Shipbuilding Co. of Camden for Standard Oil Company, with intention of transporting oil and petroleum products between United States and ports in the Far East. The ship was briefly requisitioned by the US Government during World War I but returned to commercial service in early 1919.
German submarine U-652 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 5 February 1940 at the Howaldtswerke yard at Hamburg, launched on 7 February 1941, and commissioned on 3 April 1941 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Georg-Werner Fraatz.
Empire Cloud was a 5,969 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1940 by William Pickersgill & Sons Ltd, Sunderland for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was torpedoed on her maiden voyage, but repaired and returned to service. In 1942, she was torpedoed and sank whilst under tow to port.
Empire Commerce was a 3,722 GRT tanker that was built in 1942 by Sir J Laing & Sons Ltd, Sunderland for the Ministry of War Transport(MoWT). She entered service in March 1943 and was torpedoed on 1 October 1943 and sunk by U-410.
German submarine U-65 was a Type IXB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. Over the course of six war patrols between 9 April 1940 and 28 April 1941, she sank twelve ships and damaged three others for a total loss of 88,664 gross register tons (GRT).
British Corporal was a 6,972 GRT tanker that was built in 1922 by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow, Northumberland, United Kingdom. She was built for the British Tanker Company.
Pegaso was a torpedo boat and an escort aviso of the Italian Regia Marina. She was one of the most successful Axis anti-submarine warships of World War II.