SS ''Ocean Vigour'' was a British
Ocean class freighter, which served on various convoys during World War II, and then as a
troopship
A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...
before being used to deport
illegal Jewish immigrants who attempted to enter
Mandate Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...
to internment camps in
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
. She took part in the return of immigrants from the back to Europe, before being sold into commercial service. She was scrapped in 1967.
Ship history
She was built at
Kaiser Richmond No. 1 Yard in
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a Richmond, California City Council, city council. , one of 30 ships.
World War II
''Ocean Vigour'' was built at
Permanente Metals
Permanente Metals Corporation (PMC) is best known for having managed the Richmond Shipyards in Richmond, California, owned by one of industrialist Henry J. Kaiser's many corporations, and also engaged in related corporate activities. These four ...
Richmond shipyard No.1 in
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a Richmond, California City Council, city council. ,
one of 60 ships of this class constructed for the British
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 ...
, and launched on 14 February 1942.
Operated by the E. R. Management Company of Liverpool on behalf of 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 ...
,
''Ocean Vigour'' was employed on convoys across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean in 1942-1943, and between June and August 1944 she is recorded on sailing on seven convoys between the English port of
Southend
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...
and the
Baie de la Seine
The Baie de Seine (Bay of the Seine River) is a bay in northern France.
Geography
It is a wide, rectangular inlet of the English Channel, approximately 100 kilometres (east-west) by 45 kilometres, bounded in the west by the Cotentin Peninsula, i ...
on the northern coast of France.
Post-war activities
Under the designation
HMT HMT may refer to:
Science
* Hexamethylenetetramine
* Histamine N-methyltransferase
* Histone methyltransferase
* Host modulatory therapy
Places
* Ham Street railway station, in England
* Hang Mei Tsuen stop, Hong Kong
* Hemet-Ryan Airport, Cali ...
''Ocean Vigour'' the ship was operating the eastern Mediterranean, employed in transporting illegal Jewish immigrants to
detention camps in Cyprus. On 2 April 1947, a sabotage unit of the
Palyam
Palyam ( he, פלי"ם, an abbreviation of ''Plugat HaYam'' (), lit. ''Sea Company'') was the sea force of the Palmach.
History
Palyam was set up in April 1945 as the Palmach's tenth company (Pluga Yud) which originated from the Palmach's Naval ...
detonated a bomb aboard while she was moored at
Famagusta
Famagusta ( , ; el, Αμμόχωστος, Ammóchostos, ; tr, Gazimağusa or ) is a city on the east coast of Geography of Cyprus, Cyprus. It is located east of Nicosia District, Nicosia and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. Duri ...
, Cyprus.
On 18 July 1947 the was captured by a squadron of British naval ships and escorted into
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
. The 4,515 immigrants were transferred into three British ships, ''Runnymede Park'', ''
Empire Rival'' and ''Ocean Vigour'', which sailed for
Port-de-Bouc
Port-de-Bouc (; oc, Lo Pòrt de Boc) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône department
The following is a list of the 119 communes of the Bouches-du-Rhô ...
, France. However most of the immigrants refused to leave the ship, and eventually they sailed for
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, Germany, where on 8 September, the 1,464 immigrants aboard ''Ocean Vigour'' were forcibly disembarked by military police and soldiers equipped with
truncheons and
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...
, and taken to internment camps in
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
.
After
Israeli Independence in 1948, the ''Ocean Vigour'' was tasked with deporting
Irgun
Irgun • Etzel
, image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px
, caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...
and
Lehi
Lehi (; he, לח"י – לוחמי חרות ישראל ''Lohamei Herut Israel – Lehi'', "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi"), often known pejoratively as the Stern Gang,"This group was known to its friends as LEHI and to its enemie ...
members who had been
interned in African prison camps, in Britain's African colonies. On 9 July 1948, the ''Ocean Vigour'' set sail for Israel with 262 detainees aboard, and arrived in Israel three days later.
Later career
In 1948 the ship was sold to the British Steam Shipping Company, and managed by J. Cory & Sons of Cardiff, under the name ''Ramillies''. She was sold to the Orders & Handford Steamship Company in 1954, but remained under Cory's management until sold again in 1955 to the Buchanan Shipping Company and renamed ''Galavale'', managed by Andrew Crawford Ltd. of Glasgow. Finally in 1957 the ship was sold to the Italian company ''Corrado Società Anonima di Navigazione'' of
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, who operated her under the name ''Confidenza'' until 1967, when she was scrapped in
La Spezia
La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second largest city ...
.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocean Vigour
1942 ships
Ships built in Richmond, California
Ministry of War Transport ships
Ship bombings
Maritime incidents in 1947
Mandatory Palestine