''Empire Engineer'' was a refrigerated cargo ship that was built in 1921 as ''Canadian Commander'' by Canadian Vickers Ltd,

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada. She was sold to an Italian firm in 1932 and renamed ''Giaocchino Lauro''. She was seized by the United Kingdom in 1940, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed ''Empire Engineer''. She served until 4 February 1941 when she was

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

ed and sunk by .

Description

The SS Empire Engineer was built in 1920 by Canadian Vickers Ltd,

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. She was yard number 79. The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of , and a draught of . She was assessed at , . 8,400 DWT. The ship was propelled by a 520 nhp triple expansion steam engine, which had cylinders of , and diameter by stroke. The engine was built by Canadian Vickers Ltd, Montreal. She had of refrigerated cargo space. Refrigeration machinery was by the Lightfoot Refrigeration Co Ltd.

History

''Canadian Commander'' was launched in 1920, with completion in April 1921. She was built for the Canadian Government and operated by the Canadian Government Merchant Marine Ltd (GCMM). Her port of registry was Montreal, under the British flag. The United Kingdom

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 ...

141832 and

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 ...

TQDW were allocated. On 3 July 1922, ''Canadian Commander'' ran aground at

Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre and Miquelon ( ), officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, located near the Canada, Canadian prov ...

. She was refloated on 16 July. Following the demise of CGMM in 1928, ''Canadian Commander'' was transferred to Canadian Commander Ltd and placed under the management of Canadian National Steamships Ltd. In 1932, ''Canadian Commander'' was sold to Achille Lauro,

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, Italy and renamed ''Gioacchino Lauro''. Her port of registry was Naples. The Italian Official Number 383 was allocated. From 1934, her Code Letters were IBOG. She was assessed as , . On 10 June 1940, ''Gioacchino Lauro'' was in port at

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

, Co Durham when Italy declared war against the United Kingdom. The ship and her cargo were seized as a prize of war, ''Gioacchino Lauro'' was passed to the MoWT and renamed ''Empire Engineer''. ''Empire Engineer'' was placed under the management of Weidner, Hopkins & Co Ltd. She regained her previous Official Number. The Code Letters GLYG were allocated. Her port of registry was

West Hartlepool West Hartlepool was a predecessor of Hartlepool, County Durham, England. It developed in the Victorian era and took the name from its western position in the parish of what is now known as the Headland. The former town was originally formed ...

, Co Durham. She was assessed at , . Little is known of her war service. She was a member of Convoy OA 216, which departed from Methil,

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

on 18 September 1940 and joined Convoy OB 216 at sea on 21 September. ''Empire Engineer'' was in ballast and bound for

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. ''Empire Engineer'' was a member of Convoy SC 20, which departed from Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, Canada on 22 January 1941 and arrived at

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, United Kingdom on 8 February. She was carrying a cargo of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

ingots bound for Newport,

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. ''Empire Engineer'' straggled behind the convoy. At 16:44 German time on 4 February, she was hit by a torpedo fired by and sank within four minutes at . Although some survivors were known to have taken to liferafts, all 39 crew were lost. They are commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

References

External links

Photo of ''Gioacchino Lauro''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Engineer 1920 ships Ships built in Montreal Steamships of Canada Merchant ships of Canada Maritime incidents in 1922 Steamships of Italy Merchant ships of Italy World War II merchant ships of Italy Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in February 1941 World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II Ships lost with all hands