MV Empire City

Empire City was a cargo ship which was built in 1943 by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was torpedoed and sunk on 6 August 1944 by GS U-198.

Description
Empire City was built by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland. She was launched on 15 July 1943.

The ship was 428 ft long, with a beam of 56 ft and a depth of 35 ft. She had a GRT of 7,295 and a NRT of 4,941.

The ship was propelled by a 2-stroke Single Cycle Single Action diesel engine, which had eight cylinders of 23+5/8 in diameter by 91+5/16 in stroke.

History
Empire City was built for the MoWT. She was placed under the management of the A Weir & Co Ltd. Her port of registry was Sunderland. The Code Letters BFLB and the United Kingdom Official Number 180046 were allocated.

Empire City was a member of a number of convoys in the Second World War.

Convoy ON 212 departed Liverpool on 19 November 1943 and arrived at New York on 5 December. Empire City had departed from Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire on 18 November. She was equipped with anti-torpedo nets on this voyage.
 * ON 212

Empire City was a member of Convoy DKA 21, which departed Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa bound for Port Said, Egypt via Aden. Empire City was carrying a cargo of 8,403 tons of coal. On 6 August 1944, she was torpedoed and sunk by GS U-198 off Mocímboa da Praia, Portuguese East Africa (-11.55°N, 41.41667°W). Two crew (Engineers) were killed. The surviving 48 crew and 20 DEMS gunners were rescued. They were landed at Pekawi, Portuguese East Africa. U-198 was sunk on 12 August. Those lost on Empire City are commemorated at the Tower Hill Memorial, London.
 * DKA 21