HMS ''Cicero'' was an infantry landing ship in service with 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 the late stages of the

Second World War 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 ...

Career

Wartime

She was built by

Consolidated Steel Corporation The Consolidated Steel Corporation was an American steel and shipbuilding business. Formed on 18 December 1928, the company built ships during World War II in two main locations: Wilmington, California, and Orange, Texas. It was created by the mer ...

, Wilmington,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

as the ''Cape St Vincent'', and transferred under the terms of

lend lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),

shortly after being completed in January 1944 under the name ''Empire Arquebus''. She was taken over by 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 operated by Donaldson Bros & Black Ltd. ''Empire Arquebus'' was a member of Convoy CU 15, which sailed from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

on 22 February 1944. She was carrying a cargo of fish and personnel. ''Empire Arquebus'' transferred to Convoy HX 280 at sea on 29 February. Convoy HX 280 arrived at

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 9 March. She took part in the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

, carrying Mk3 Landing Craft Support (Medium) 78, 109 and 112 of the 542

Landing Craft Assault Landing Craft Assault (LCA) was a landing craft used extensively in World War II. Its primary purpose was to ferry troops from transport ships to attack enemy-held shores. The craft derived from a prototype designed by John I. Thornycroft & Com ...

Flotilla and troops from the

Hampshire Regiment The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. The re ...

Gold Beach Gold, commonly known as Gold Beach, was the code name for one of the five areas of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of German military administration in occupied France during World War II, German-occupied France in the Normandy la ...

. After the Normandy Landings, ''Empire Arquebus'' was laid up in the Clyde. ''Empire Arquebus'' later served in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

. In January 1945 she was requisitioned by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

and commissioned as HMS ''Cicero'', under which name she served out the remainder of the war, although it would appear that she remained named as ''Empire Arquebus''. In 1945, ''Empire Arquebus'' was used to transport troops from

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

via New Ireland,

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

and

Manus Manus may refer to: Relating to locations around New Guinea *Manus Island, a Papua New Guinean island in the Admiralty Archipelago ** Manus languages, languages spoken on Manus and islands close by ** Manus Regional Processing Centre, an offshore ...

to Ponam. During this journey, the ship was infested by flying beetles which had got aboard in bales of

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

. The ship arrived at Ponam on 25 March 1945. Surplus to requirements after the war's end, she was returned to the Ministry of War Transport in September 1945, which returned her to Donaldson Bros & Black under her original name of ''Empire Arquebus''.

Postwar

''Empire Arquebus'' sailed with Donaldson Bros & Black until 1946, when she was returned to the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. She was laid up until being sold to the

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian company Société Misr de Navigation Maritime in November 1946, taking the new name ''Al Sudan''. She sailed with them for the next few years, making voyages carrying pilgrims to

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

, and at times operating under charter. She made a number of voyages to Australia. She was taken over by the Egyptian Government in 1959, during the period of nationalisation, and by 1961 was part of the nationalised United Arab Maritime Company, who proceeded to operate her for the next 12 years. In 1973 she returned to being owned by an Egyptian company, this time the Egyptian Navigation Company. She was sold for scrapping in 1980, and laid up at

Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...

. She spent several years in this state, but work was finally started in July 1984 and she was completely broken up by 28 March 1987.

Official Number and code letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to

IMO Numbers The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term with two distinct applications: * the IMO ship identification number is a unique ship identifier; or, * the IMO company and registered owner identification number is us ...

. ''Empire Arquebus'' had the 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 ...

169819 and used the

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. Later, with the introduction of ...

MYMS. ''Al Sudan'' had the Egyptian

104 and used the Code Letters SUDS.

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Photo of ''Empire Arquebus''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cicero (F170) Type C1-S ships Ships built in Los Angeles 1943 ships Empire ships Troop ships of the Royal Navy Ministry of War Transport ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of Egypt Steamships of Egypt Merchant ships of the United Arab Republic Steamships of the United Arab Republic