MV Empire Bede

Empire Bede was a 6,959 GRT cargo ship which was built by G M Harland & Wolff Ltd, Glasgow in 1942 for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She had a short career, being damaged by a torpedo and then sunk by gunfire on 18 August 1942.

Description
Empire Bede was built by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Glasgow. She was yard number 1049. Empire Bede was launched on 6 January 1942 and completed on 31 March. She was 432 ft long, with a beam of 56 ft and a depth of 34 ft. Her GRT was 6,959 with a NRT of 4,201.

Career
Empire Bede had a short career, she was a member of two convoys.

Convoy OS 25 departed Liverpool on 12 April 1942 and arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone on 29 April. Empire Bede was carrying a cargo of ammunition, guns, stores and tanks.
 * OS 25

After leaving the convoy off Freetown, Empire Bede delivered her cargo to Aden and Port Said, Egypt. She then sailed to Port Sudan where a load of cotton was taken aboard. Empire Bede sailed to Cape Town and then departed for New York. On 1 August she picked up 25 survivors from the Clan Line ship SS Clan MacNaughton, which had been torpedoed and sunk by U-155. They were landed at Port of Spain, Trinidad on 5 August.

Convoy TAW 13 departed from Trinidad on 12 August 1942 and arrived at Key West, Florida on 23 August. Empire Bede carried the Vice-Commodore. The convoy headed for the Panama Canal at 5 kn to rendezvous with other ships that were to join the convoy there. At 04:00 British Double Summer Time (06:00 German time) on 12 August, Empire Bede was struck by a torpedo fired by U-553, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Karl Thurmann. Two crew were killed. Her position was 19.58333°N, -76.41667°W. The other 35 crew, six DEMS gunners and two signalmen were picked up by HMS Pimpernel (K71), which later sank Empire Bede by gunfire at 19.68333°N, -76.83333°W. The rescued crew were landed at Santiago de Cuba. Those lost on Empire Bede are commemorated at the Tower Hill Memorial, London.
 * TAW 13

Official Numbers and Code Letters
Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. Empire Bede had the UK Official Number 1687091 and the Code Letters BCVC.

Propulsion
Empire Bede was propelled by a four-stroke Single Cycle, Single Action diesel engine which had six cylinders of 29+3/8 in diameter by 59+3/16 in stroke. It was built by Harland & Wolff. The engine could propel the ship at a speed of 14 kn.