''Empire Burton'' was a CAM Ship which was built in 1941 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). Completed in August 1941, she was torpedoed on 20 September 1941 by and sunk.

Description

''Empire Burton'' was built by Short Brothers Ltd,

Pallion Pallion is a suburb and electoral ward in North West Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England. Most of the buildings in the area were built during the Victorian Era and consist of large terraced houses built for shipbuilders, but also smaller one-s ...

for the MoWT. She was yard number 466. ''Empire Burton'' was launched on 29 May 1941 and completed in August 1941. The ship was long, with a beam of and a depth of . She was propelled by a

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 ...

which had cylinders of , , and bore by stroke. The engine was built by North East Marine Engine Works,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

Career

''Empire Burton'' had a short career. She was completed in August 1941 and placed under the management of Common Brothers Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne. Her port of registry was Sunderland. ''Empire Burton'' was a member of two convoys. ;ON 9 Convoy ON 9 departed from Milford Haven on 19 August 1941 and

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 populat ...

on 20 August. It dispersed at sea on 25 August. ''Empire Burton'' was bound for Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. ;SC 44 Convoy SC 44 departed from Halifax, calling at Sydney from where the convoy departed on 11 September bound for Liverpool. She was carrying a cargo of of

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

. At 01:13 (German time) on 20 September 1941, fired four

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

es, one of which hit ''Empire Burton'' and sank her with the loss of two of the 60 crew. The ship was east of Cape Farewell at the time (). The 58 survivors were rescued by and landed at

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. Those lost on ''Empire Burton'' are commemorated at the Tower Hill Memorial, London.

Official Numbers and Code Letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. ''Empire Burton'' had the United Kingdom Official Number 168915 and used the Code Letters BCMR.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Burton 1941 ships Ships built on the River Wear CAM ships Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Maritime incidents in September 1941