''Empire Ace'' was a 275-ton tug which was built in 1942 for the

Ministry of War Transport The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) was a department of the British Government formed early in the Second World War to control transportation policy and resources. It was formed by merging the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Transport ...

(MoWT). She was transferred to the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

in 1947 and renamed ''Diligent''. She was transferred to the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

in 1961 and reverted to ''Empire Ace''. She ran aground in 1968 and was scrapped in 1971.

History

''Empire Ace'' was built by Cochrane & Sons Ltd,

Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse, with a population at the 2011 census of 14,731. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until ...

as yard number 1255. She was launched on 12 September 1942 and completed on 22 December 1942. She was built for the MoWT. ''Empire Ace'' was sent to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. She was member of convoy RS-3 in March 1943. She was a member of Convoy KMS 25 which passed

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

on 19 September 1943. She had sailed from ''Algiers'' with an unrecorded destination, but likely to have been Malta. ''Empire Ace'' was sunk during an air raid on Malta on 15 March 1944. On the 10 May she was salvaged and repairs were carried out. In 1947 she was transferred to the Admiralty and renamed ''Diligence''. In 1961, ''Diligence'' was transferred to the Ministry of Defence and reverted to ''Empire Ace''. She was loaned to the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

from December 1961 to December 1964, serving in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. On 11 November 1968, she ran aground at

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing ...

in heavy seas and was abandoned. ''Empire Ace'' was refloated in June 1969 but declared a constructive total loss. She was scrapped at Campbelltown in 1971.

Official number and code letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to

IMO Numbers IMO or Imo may refer to: Biology and medicine * Irish Medical Organisation, the main organization for doctors in the Republic of Ireland * Intelligent Medical Objects, a privately held company specializing in medical vocabularies * Isomaltooligosa ...

. ''Empire Ace'' had the UK

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

1690781 and used the

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...

MFLY.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Ace 1942 ships Ships built in Selby Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Ships sunk by aircraft Steamships of the United Kingdom Tugboats of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in March 1944 Maritime incidents in 1968