SS ''Michael E'' was a cargo ship that was built in 1941. She was the first British Catapult Aircraft Merchant ship: a merchant ship fitted with a rocket catapult to launch a single Hawker Hurricane fighter to defend a convoy against long-range German bombers. She was sunk on her maiden voyage by a German submarine.

Description

''Michael E'' was built by William Hamilton & Co Ltd,

Port Glasgow Port Glasgow ( gd, Port Ghlaschu, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most recen ...

. Launched in 1941, she was completed in May of that year. She was the United Kingdom's first CAM ship, armed with an aircraft catapult on her bow to launch a

Hawker Sea Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. Some versions were built in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry Co Ltd British variants Hurricane Mk I ; Hurricane Mk I ( ...

. The ship was long between perpendiculars ( overall), with a beam of . She had a depth of and a draught of . She was and . She had six corrugated furnaces feeding two 225 lb_f/in² single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of . The boilers fed a 443

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 that had cylinders of , and diameter by stroke. The engine was built by David Rowan & Co Ltd, Glasgow.

History

''Michael E'' was owned by the Bury Hill Shipping Co Ltd. a company owned by the Nicholas Eustathiou shipping concerns. She was placed under the management of Counties Ship Management Ltd of London, an offshoot of the Rethymnis & Kulukundis

shipbroking Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators (i.e. brokers) between shipowners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers and ...

company. She was named after Michael Eustathiou, a member of the

Nicholas Eustathiou family Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and its ...

that had a major shareholding in her. Her

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...

were BCKB, her 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 ...

was 163168 and she was registered in London. ''Michael E'' was a

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

of , , and , which also were managed by CSM and owned by companies associated with R&K.

Sinking

On 28 May 1941 ''Michael E'' sailed in ballast on her maiden voyage from Belfast, Northern Ireland bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia with convoy OB 327. The convoy was dispersed on 1 June and at 20:43 hours on 2 June ''Michael E'' was in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

several hundred miles southwest of Cape Clear when fired two torpedoes at her. One missed but the other struck her in the stern killing a crew member and two DEMS gunners, and at 22:21 hours she sank by the stern. On 3 June the Dutch cargo ship rescued ''Michael Es Master, 44 crew, two gunners and 12 RAF personnel.

Replacement ship

In September 1941 William Hamilton & Co completed a second CAM ship of the same class for CSM. She was launched as and effectively replaced ''Michael E''. ''Primrose Hill'' survived until October 1942 when a German-operated submarine sank her by torpedo and shellfire.

References

Sources & further reading

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Michael E 1941 ships CAM ships Ships built on the River Clyde Maritime incidents in June 1941 Ships of Counties Ship Management Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II Steamships of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom