''Empire Almond'' was a

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

that was built in 1941. She was renamed ''Marquita'' in 1946, ''Marsland'' in 1951, ''Huta Zgoda'' in 1960 and ''MP-Zozie-12'' in 1969. She was scrapped in 1978.

History

''Empire Almond'' was built by Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Co Ltd, Hong Kong as yard number 297. She was launched on 23 July 1941 and completed in September 1941. ''Empire Almond'' was built for the Ministry of War Transport and initially operated under the management of the W Runciman & Co Ltd, London and later the Coolham Steamship Co Ltd. ''Empire Almond'' was initially homeported in Hong Kong but her homeport was changed to London in 1942.

War service

''Empire Almond'' was a member of a number of convoys during the Second World War. ;OS 33 Convoy OS 33 sailed from Liverpool for Freetown, Sierra Leone on 1 July 1942, arriving on 20 July. ''Empire Almond'' sailed from the Clyde with a destination of Takoradi, Ghana with a cargo of Government stores. ;MKS 52 Convoy MKS 52 departed from Augusta on 13 June 1944. ''Empire Almond'' was bound for Malta for attention to defects. ;KMS67 Convoy KMS 67 left Liverpool on 24 October 1944 and arrived at

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on 2 November. ''Empire Almond'' was carrying a cargo of stores and general cargo, bound for Alexandria. At 1300 hrs on 26 October, ''Empire Almond'' was stopped with an engine fault. It took about 4 hours before she was able to resume her journey. She was escorted by the S and , rejoining the convoy at 2200 hrs. ;MKS 72 Convoy MKS 72 left

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

on 23 December 1944. ''Empire Almond'' was carrying a cargo of steel. ;KMS 85 Convoy KMS 85 left Liverpool on 17 February 1945 and reached

on 24 February. ''Empire Almond'' sailed from Southend bound for

Post-war

In 1946 ''Empire Almond'' was sold to Kaye, Son & Co, London and renamed ''Marquita''. ''Marquita'' visited Auckland, New Zealand on 3 May 1949. She was renamed ''Marsland'' in 1951. In 1960, ''Marsland'' was sold to the Polska Żegluga Morska,

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

and renamed ''Huta Zgoda''. In about 1967 ''Huta Zgoda'' was sold to Rejonowe Zaklady Zbozowe PZZ and converted into a grain storage hulk at

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

. In 1969, ''Huta Zgoda'' was sold to Zaklady Obrutu Zbozami Importawanymi i Eksportowymi PZZ and renamed ''MP-Zozie-12''. she served in this capacity until 1978. ''MP-Zozie-12'' was sold for scrap in 1978, arriving at

Faslane His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...

under tow on 10 July.

Official number and call sign

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 ...

s 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 Almond'' 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 ...

172790 and Call sign VRFR.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Almond 1941 ships Empire ships Merchant ships of Poland Ministry of War Transport ships Ships built in Hong Kong Steamships of Hong Kong Steamships of Poland Steamships of the United Kingdom World War II merchant ships of Hong Kong Ships built by the Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Company