''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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. ;OS 33 Convoy OS 33 sailed from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

for

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

on 1 July 1942, arriving on 20 July. ''Empire Almond'' sailed from the River Clyde, Clyde with a destination of

Takoradi Sekondi-Takoradi is a city in Ghana comprising the twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. It is the capital of Sekondi – Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and the Western Region of Ghana. Sekondi-Takoradi is the region's largest city and an indus ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

with a cargo of Government stores. ;MKS 52 Convoy MKS 52 departed from Augusta on 13 June 1944. ''Empire Almond'' was bound for

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 ...

for attention to defects. ;KMS67 Convoy KMS 67 left

on 24 October 1944 and arrived at

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 2 November. ''Empire Almond'' was carrying a cargo of stores and general cargo, bound for

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, 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 Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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 In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

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