SS Empire Bruce

Empire Bruce was a prototype cargo ship which was built in 1941 by Sir J Laing & Sons for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was torpedoed and sunk by GS U-123 (1940) on 18 April 1943.

Description
Empire Bruce was built by Sir J Laing & Sons Ltd, Sunderland. She was yard number 737. Launched on 11 June 1941, she was completed in August 1941.

The ship was 423 ft long, with a beam of 59 ft and a depth of 35 ft. She was propelled by a triple expansion steam engine which had cylinders of 24 in, 39 in and 68 in bore by 48 in stroke. The engine was built by the Central Marine Engine Works, West Hartlepool. It could propel her at 10.5 kn. She had a GRT of 7,349 with a NRT of 4,497.

Career
Empire Bruce's port of registry was Sunderland. She was initially operated under the management of the Larrinaga Steamship Co Ltd. Management was then transferred to Christian Salvesen & Co Ltd, Leith.

Empire Bruce was a member of a number of convoys during the Second World War.

Convoy ON 14 departed Liverpool on 7 September 1941 and Loch Ewe on 10 September. It dispersed at sea on 15 September. Empire Bruce was bound for Philadelphia.
 * ON 14

Sinking
At 12:39 on 18 April 1943, Empire Bruce was struck in the stern by a torpedo fired from GS U-123 (1940), under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Horst von Schroeter. The ship was carrying a cargo of 9,141 tons of linseed from Buenos Aires, Argentina to the United Kingdom via Freetown, Sierra Leone. She capsized and sank after further torpedoes were fired at 13:51 and 14:19. The entire crew of 42, and seven DEMS gunners were rescued by minesweeper HMS MMS 107. They were landed at Freetown on 19 April. The ship sank 100 nmi off Freetown (6.66667°N, -13.28333°W).

Official Numbers and Code Letters
Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. Empire Bruce had the UK Official Number 168918 and used the Code Letters BCPJ.