A Question of Three Ships .

[Johnsonsyard]

Singapore November 1945

City of Canterbury , left for Calcutta 17/11/45
Empire Grange , left for Karachi 18/11/45
Pasteur , left for Bombay 13/11/45


Does anyone know if these ships were troopships ?
How long would there journeys take?

Also 28/11/45 , Earthquake and Tsunami off Marakan coast near Bombay. Does anyone know how shipping was affected ?


Many thanks


Nick

[Captain Kong]

PASTEUR was a troopship, managed by Cunard White Star Line.

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Nick
City of Canterbury was also as i understand a Troopship!
See this writeup of the Ship and the Troops that were on her!
Not too good!
Cheers

BBC - WW2 People's War - Mutiny in Durban ? The Full Story (Part 1)

See this site too Good Pics!

ypww2E

Empire Grange
Empire Grange was a 6,981 GRT cargo ship which was built by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast. Launched on 23 September 1942 and completed in March 1943. Sold in 1946 to King Line Ltd and renamed King Robert. Operated under the management of Dodd, Thompson & Co Ltd. Sold in 1961 to Mullion & Co Ltd, Hong Kong and renamed Ardgem. Sold in 1967 to Kelso Shipping Co Ltd, Gibraltar and renamed Kelso. Operated under the management of Mullion & Co. Arrived on 2 September 1969 at Kaohsiung, Taiwan for scrapping.

The Empire ships were a series of ships in the service of the British Government. Their names were all prefixed with "Empire". Mostly they were used during World War II by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), who owned the ships but contracted out their management to various shipping lines. Some ships requisitioned during the Suez Crisis were also given the Empire prefix. They were acquired from a number of sources. Many were built for the MoWT, others obtained from the USA, still others were captured or seized from enemy powers.

This one may well have also been a Troopship by this reading??
But not to sure!
Cheers

[Ivan Cloherty]

Hi Vernon

To my recollection there were no "Empire" ships at Suez 1956 apart from one troopship whose name will come back to me, I was on lead ship of convoy ("Salinas") during the support operation going into Suez on 6th November. I was appointed chief "Bunting Tosser" (Yeoman of signals) flags and lamping and had to transmit silent messages to other ships (by ship number) no names allowed. During the formation at Limassol and Famagusta we noted all the names of the ships to go with the numbers before all name boards taken down. I stand to be corrected but there were no empire boat names, one ship in particular stands out as I had quite a few lamp messages with her was the "Senator" an old Liberty ship as she had difficulty keeping station and speed so we had to adjust our speed to hers (slowest ship in the convoy) luckily it was only a short run from Famagusta to Suez.

There were some "empire" and "fort" type built ships at Suez but they were RFA and names began with "Fort" But as always with events happening over 50 years ago I stand to be corrected and "Pickfords" bless em! lost most of my personal possessions and other irreplacable items in storage during one of our living abroad periods, so impossible for me to refer to my notes, they didn't of course lose the things that could be replaced.

Ivan

[Colin Hawken]

Empire Windrush,Empire Ken and Empire Orwell are the only three troopships I remember Ivan. Windrush burned out and sank in the Med in 1954 I seem to remember.Possibly one of the other two?

[Ivan Cloherty]

Empire Windrush,Empire Ken and Empire Orwell are the only three troopships I remember Ivan. Windrush burned out and sank in the Med in 1954 I seem to remember.Possibly one of the other two?

Thanks Colin

Empire Orwell rings a bell

[Captain Kong]

Another troopship in those day was the Empire Hallidale.

[Stuart Henderson]

Another was Empire Parkeston run by GSNC. I think Im right in saying Arnhem also. Mostly shipping troops of the BAOR
Stuart H