SS ''Lambridge'' was a UK

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 1917, gave 28 years of service and was

scuttled Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...

in 1945. She was launched as ''Glennevis'' but changed owners and names a number of times, successively becoming ''African Prince'', ''Pentridge Hill'', ''Botlea'', HMS ''Lambridge'' and ''Lambridge''. She was scuttled as part of a programme to dispose of UK stocks of chemical weapons.

Building

The Ayrshire Dockyard Company Ltd. built the ship to the UK Shipping Controller's standard "B" type cargo ship design. She had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of heating three 180 lb_f/in² single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of . The boilers fed a Dunsmuir and Jackson three-cylinder 510

NHP Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

triple expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...

that drove a single screw propeller.

Names and owners

The ship was launched in 1917 as ''Glennevis'' for the Western Steam Ship Company of Glasgow. In 1922 she was sold to

Furness Withy Furness Withy was a major British transport business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded by Christopher Furness and Henry Withy (1852–1922) in 1891 in Hartlepool. This was achieved by the amalgamatio ...

who renamed her ''African Prince''. In 1936 she was sold to the Dorset Steamship Company, which renamed her ''Pentridge Hill''. Dorset SS Co was a London-based company controlled by

Counties Ship Management Counties Ship Management Co. Ltd. (CSM) was an ocean-going merchant shipping company based in the United Kingdom. During the Second World War CSM merchant ships made a substantial contribution to supplying the British war effort, at a cost of ...

. In 1939 she was sold to Sir Wm. Reardon Smith & Sons, Ltd, who renamed her ''Botlea''. In September and October 1939 she became one of nine merchant ships that 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, Tr ...

acquired to convert into

Q-ships Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open f ...

. ''Botlea'' was commissioned into the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

as HMS ''Lambridge'' with the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

X15. The Q-ships were not successful and from February 1941 she served as the

armed merchant cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

''Lambridge''.

Scuttling

After the Second World War the Admiralty used her to dispose of redundant chemical ammunition. On 30 December 1945 she was

in the North Atlantic beyond the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

, northwest of Ireland. Her wreck is at in of water. ''Lambridge'' was one of four redundant cargo ships that the Admiralty used to dispose of chemical ammunition at the same site in the North Atlantic. The others were on 11 September, '' Empire Cormorant'' on 1 October and on 30 October.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambridge 1917 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Scuttled vessels of the United Kingdom Ships of Counties Ship Management Steamships of the United Kingdom World War I merchant ships of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Maritime incidents in December 1945