SS Empire Galahad

SS Empire Galahad was a refrigerated cargo ship built in 1942 and scrapped in 1967. She was also known by the names SS Celtic Star (1946), SS Murillo (1946–52), SS Bogliasco (1952–54), MV Bogliasco (1954–63) and MV Ocean Peace (1963–67). She was scrapped in Taiwan in 1967.

Background
The Empire ships were a series of ships in the service of the British Government. Their names were all prefixed with "Empire". Mostly they were used during World War II by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), who owned the ships but contracted out their management to various shipping lines. Some ships requisitioned during the Suez Crisis were also given the Empire prefix. They were acquired from a number of sources. Many were built for the MoWT, others obtained from the USA, still others were captured or seized from enemy powers.

History
Empire Galahad was built by Lithgows in Port Glasgow for the MoWT. She was launched on Monday 18 May 1942 and completed in July. Empire Galahad spent the war years under the management of Blue Star Line.

War service
Empire Galahad was a member of the following convoys:-


 * SL 123, which sailed from Freetown, Sierra Leone on 23 September 1942 and arrived in the UK on 13 October 1942.
 * SC 122, which sailed from New York on 5 March 1943 and arrived at Liverpool on 24 March. Empire Galahad was carrying general cargo, meat and a passenger. She joined this convoy from convoy HX.228.
 * MKS 22, which sailed from Freetown on 14 August 1943 and arrived at Liverpool on 6 September. Empire Galahad was carrying a refrigerated cargo and also linseed.
 * SL 143, which sailed from Freetown, Sierra Leone on 12 December 1943 and arrived in the UK on 5 January 1944.
 * SL 157, which sailed from Freetown, Sierra Leone on 1 May 1944 and arrived in the UK on 23 May 1944.
 * SL 169, which sailed from Freetown, Sierra Leone on 29 August 1944 and arrived in the UK on 16 September 1944.
 * MKS 74, which sailed from Mediterranean on 31 December 1944 and arrived in the UK on 8 January 1945.
 * KMS 83, which sailed from Liverpool on 6 February 1945 and arrived at Gibraltar on 12 February. Empire Galahad was in ballast, and sailed from Milford Haven, with an eventual destination of the River Plate She was armed with a 4.7 in gun and eight machine guns.

Post war
In 1946 she was bought by Blue Star and renamed Celtic Star, being quickly sold to Lamport & Holt Line and renamed Murillo, the second Lamport & Holt ship to carry that name. In 1952 she was sold to Industriale Maritime and renamed Bogliasco, sailing under the Italian flag. In 1954, the original triple-expansion steam engine (maker J G Kincaid, Glasgow) was replaced by a six-cylinder two-stroke Single Cycle Single Action diesel engine (maker Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico, Trieste). She served for a total of nine years before being sold to Ocean Shipping & Enterprises in 1963 and being renamed Ocean Peace, sailing under the Panamanian flag. She was sold for scrap in 1967, and arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan for scrapping on 12 September 1967.

Official number and code letters
Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers.

Empire Galahad had the UK Official Number 168985 and used the Code Letters BDYN.