SS ''Empire Rest'' was a

convoy rescue ship During the Second World War, designated convoy rescue ships accompanied some Battle of the Atlantic (1940), Atlantic convoys to rescue survivors from ships that had been attacked. Rescue ships were typically small freighters with passenger accomm ...

built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, originally

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

as the ''Rayleigh Castle''. Post-war she served as a transport ship until 1948, was sold in 1951, and

scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on i ...

in 1952.

Design and description

The Castle-class corvette was a stretched version of the preceding Flower class, enlarged to improve

seakeeping Seakeeping ability or seaworthiness is a measure of how well-suited a watercraft is to conditions when underway. A ship or boat which has good seakeeping ability is said to be very seaworthy and is able to operate effectively even in high sea stat ...

and to accommodate modern weapons. The convoy rescue conversions had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of . They had a tonnage of . The ships were powered by a pair of triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

using steam provided by two

Admiralty three-drum boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power Steamship, ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although ...

s. The engines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The convoy rescue ships were given an armament of a single 12-pounder () anti-aircraft (AA) guns and five Oerlikon AA guns on single mounts.

Construction and career

The ship was ordered from Ferguson Brothers (Port Glasgow) Ltd. of

Port Glasgow Port Glasgow (, ) 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 recent census in 2011 s ...

on 9 December 1942 as a Castle-class corvette. She was laid down in 1943 and launched on 19 June 1944 as ''Rayleigh Castle'' (K695), but further work was then cancelled, and she was completed as a convoy rescue ship on 26 October 1944. Under the ownership of 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 Transpor ...

, and managed by the Ellerman City Line, she sailed on eleven convoys between November 1944 and June 1945, but made no rescues. In November 1945 she sailed to

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

to repatriate Royal Navy personnel, and was also employed as an transport ship in the Mediterranean in 1947, taking illegal Jewish immigrants from

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

internment camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...

on Cyprus in October that year. In July 1948 she was laid up at

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Falmouth was founded in 1613 by the Killigrew family on a site near the existing Pendennis Castle. It developed as a po ...

, and offered for sale in October 1949. She was eventually bought by Lloyds Albert Yard & Motor Boat Packet Services Ltd. in October 1951. She arrived at

Thos. W. Ward Thos. W. Ward Ltd was a Sheffield, Yorkshire, business primarily working steel, engineering and cement. It began as coal and coke merchants. It expanded into recycling metal for Sheffield's steel industry, and then the supply and manufacture ...

Briton Ferry Briton Ferry () is a town and Community (Wales), community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The Welsh name may indicate that the church, ''llan'', is protected from the wind, ''awel''. Alternatively, ''Sawel'' may be a deri ...

, Wales, for scrapping on 6 June 1952.

Convoys

''Empire Rest'' sailed on the following convoys: * OS-95 km/KMS-69G – River Clyde to Gibraltar (November 1944) * MKS-68G/SL-177MK – Gibraltar to Liverpool (November 1944) * OS-100 km – Liverpool to Gibraltar (December 1944) * MKS-72G – Gibraltar to Liverpool (December 1944) * OS-104 km – Liverpool to Gibraltar (January 1945) * MKS-76G – Gibraltar to Clyde (January 1945) * ON 283 – Southend to New York City (February 1945) * HX 341 – NYC to Liverpool (March 1945) * ON 294 – Southend to NYC (April 1945) * HX 352 – NYC to Liverpool (May 1945) * ON 304 – Southend to NYC (June 1945)

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Rest 1944 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Castle-class corvettes Empire ships

Design and description

Construction and career

Convoys

See also

References

Bibliography