The Fort ships were a class of 198 cargo ships built in Canada 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 ...

for use by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. They all had names prefixed with "Fort" when built. The ships were in service between 1942 and 1985, with two still listed on shipping registers until 1992. A total of 53 were lost during the war due to accidents or enemy action. One of these, , was destroyed in 1944 by the detonation of 1,400 tons of explosive on board her. This event, known as the Bombay Explosion, killed over 800 people and sank thirteen ships. Fort ships were ships transferred to the British Government and Park ships were those employed by the Canadian Government - Both had a similar design.

Description

The Fort ships were long with a beam of . They were assessed at . The ships were of three types, the "North Sands" type, which were of riveted construction, and the "Canadian" and "Victory" types, which were of welded construction. They were built by eighteen different Canadian shipyards. Their triple expansion steam engines were built by seven different manufacturers.

History

The ships were built between 1941 and 1945 by ten different builders. The first to be built was , which was laid down on 23 April 1941 and launched on 15 October. The eight ships built by Burrard Dry Dock cost $1,856,500 each. During World War II, 28 were lost to enemy action, and four were lost due to accidents. Many of the surviving 166 ships passed to the United States Maritime Commission. The last recorded scrapping was in 1985, and two ships, the former and , were listed on

Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited, trading as Lloyd's Register (LR), is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research ...

until 1992.

Crew

Park ships were armed. There were merchant seamen gunners. Also many British and Canadian merchantmen carried volunteer naval gunners called Defensively equipped merchant ship or DEMS gunners. The American ships carried Naval Armed Guard gunners. Merchant seamen crewed the merchant ships of the British Merchant Navy which kept the United Kingdom supplied with raw materials, arms, ammunition, fuel, food and all of the necessities of a nation at war throughout World War II literally enabling the country to defend itself. In doing this they sustained a considerably greater casualty rate than almost every branch of the armed services and suffered great hardship. Seamen were aged from fourteen through to their late seventies. The lost are remembered in the Royal Canadian Naval Ships Memorial Monument in Spencer Smith Park in

Burlington, Ontario Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is a city and List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipality in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region at the west end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Can ...

Losses

Twenty-eight ships were lost due to enemy action and a further 25 due to accidents.shipbuildinghistory.com Fort and Park Canada ships
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Enemy action

*On 17 May 1942, 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 in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

by . *On 17 August 1942, was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by . *On 6 March 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by . *On 17 March 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by and . *On 20 March 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

by . *On 30 March 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

by . *On 17 April 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by and . *On 11 May 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by . *On 11 June 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by . *On 16 July 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the Indian Ocean by . *On 20 July 1943, was bombed and sunk at

Augusta, Sicily Augusta (, archaically ''Agosta''; ; Ancient Greek, Greek and , Medieval: ''Augusta'') is a town and in the province of Syracuse, Italy, Syracuse, located on the eastern coast of Sicily (southern Italy). The city is one of the main harbours in ...

, Italy. *On 24 July 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by . *On 6 August 1943, was torpedoed, shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by . *On 13 September 1943, was bombed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by Luftwaffe aircraft. *On 19 September 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, 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 ...

by . *On 23 September 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by . *On 30 September 1943, was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea by . *On 4 October 1943, was bombed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Cape Ténès,

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

by Dornier Do 217 aircraft of '' Kampfgeschwader 100'', Luftwaffe. *On 2 December 1943, was sunk by the explosion of the

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost cons ...

during the air raid on Bari. * On 2 December 1943, was sunk by the German Luftwaffe during the air raid on Bari. *On 20 January 1944, was torpedoed and sunk in the Indian Ocean by . *On 25 January 1944, was torpedoed and sunk in the Arctic Ocean by and . *On 25 January 1944, was torpedoed and sunk in the Indian Ocean by . *On 15 February 1944, was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea by . *On 3 March 1944, was torpedoed, shelled and sunk in the Indian Ocean by . *On 19 May 1944, was torpedoed and damaged in the Mediterranean Sea by . The fore section sank. The stern section was taken in tow but sank the next day. *On 3 August 1944, was damaged by a

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

radio-controlled explosives boat off

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

, France. She was subsequently beached at Appledore, Devon, and was scrapped in 1949. *On 23 August 1944, was torpedoed and sunk in the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

by . *On 15 December 1944, struck a mine and sank in the North Sea.

Accident

*On 16 July 1943, caught fire at

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

. She was beached and was consequently declared a total loss. *On 4 August 1943, caught fire and exploded at Algiers. *On 14 April 1944, was severely damaged by the explosion of ''Fort Stikine'' at

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, India. She was reduced to a

hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk ...

and was scrapped in 1948. *On 14 April 1944, exploded at Bombay and was obliterated. Twelve other vessels were lost. *On 21 June 1945, ''Fort La Prairie'' or ''Fort La Pairie'', 7138 tons, cargo ship, British, ran aground about 0.5 miles SSW of Muckle Skerry light, Muckle Skerry, Out Skerries. Location cited as N60 29 W0 52, she was towed off by Ocean Salvage Ship ''RFA Salfeda'', assisted by local fishermen. She was renamed ''Elm Hill'' (1950) and scrapped in 1967. *On 1 February 1946, collided with ''Thornaby'' and sank in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. *On 23 August 1946, was wrecked on the Grand Shoal, off

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 ...

. *On 18 February 1949, ''LEmerillon'' (formerly ) ran aground on the Sorelle Rocks off Malta. *On 28 September 1956, ''Bedford Earl'' (formerly ) ran aground in the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

, Japan, in a typhoon. *On 14 June 1953, ''Bedford Prince'' (formerly ) ran aground in the

Gulf of Paria The Gulf of Paria ( ; ) is a shallow ( at its deepest) semi-enclosed inland sea located between the island of Trinidad and the east coast of Venezuela. It separates the two countries by as little as at its narrowest and at its widest points. T ...

. She was consequently scrapped. *On 10 February 1954, ''Catherine M. S.'' (formerly ) ran aground off Mojima Saki, Japan. She was consequently scrapped. *On 16 October 1954, ''Travelstar'' (formerly ) ran aground and caught fire in

Buckner Bay is a bay on the southern coast of Okinawa Island on the Pacific Ocean in Japan. The bay covers and ranges between to deep. The bay is surrounded by the municipalities of Uruma, Kitanakagusuku, Nakagusuku, Nishihara, Yonabaru, Nanjō, all ...

. She was declared a total loss. *On 24 March 1955, ''Yaffo'' (formerly ) ran aground in Baffy Bay. She was refloated in 1957 and taken in to

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

, Liberia. No further service recorded. *On 27 May 1959, ''Aghios Spyridon'' (formerly ) ran aground off

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.constructive total loss Marine insurance covers the physical loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport by which the property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and the final destination. Cargo insurance a sub-branch of mari ...

. *On 1 July 1960, ''Rita'' (formerly ) ran aground off

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

, India, and broke in two. *On 1 February 1961, ''Cape Drepanon'' (formerly ) ran aground in

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

. She was consequently scrapped. *On 20 December 1963, ''Corfu Island'' (formerly ) suffered an engine failure and was consequently wrecked in the

Gulf of Saint Lawrence The Gulf of St. Lawrence is a gulf that fringes the shores of the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, in Canada, plus the islands Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, possessions of France, in ...

. *On 8 April 1964, ''Irene X'' (formerly ) ran aground off

Haiphong Haiphong or Hai Phong (, ) is the third-largest city in Vietnam and is the principal port city of the Red River Delta. The municipality has an area of , consisting of 8 urban districts, 6 rural districts and 1 municipal city (sub-city). Two o ...

, China. She was subsequently refloated and scrapped. *On 21 November 1964, ''Zakia'' (formerly ) was in collision with the tanker ''Hyperion'' off Cape St. Vincent, Portugal. She sank the next day. *On 1 June 1966, ''Aktor'' (formerly ) sprang a leak and foundered in the

. *On 3 November 1966, ''Progress'' (formerly ) was wrecked in a

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, India. *On 26 January 1967, ''Bodoro'' (formerly ) was in collision with ''Beaver State'' in

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

. She was beached but was consequently declared a

constructive total loss Marine insurance covers the physical loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport by which the property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and the final destination. Cargo insurance a sub-branch of mari ...

. *On 12 April 1967, ''Silver Peak'' (formerly ) ran aground in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

off the coast of Taiwan. She was declared a total loss and subsequently scrapped. *On 25 February 1968, ''African Marquis'' (formerly ) ran aground on

Kasos Kasos (; , ), also Casos, is a Greek island municipality in the Dodecanese. It is the southernmost island in the Aegean Sea, and is part of the regional unit Karpathos-Kasos. The capital of the island is Fri. , its population was 1,223. ...

, Greece, and broke in two. *In 1968, ''Zhan Dou 76'' (formerly ) became stranded. She was subsequently scrapped. *On 18 December 1969, ''Ibrahim K'' (formerly ) ran aground at Tocra, Libya and broke up.

Ships in class

References

{{commonscat, Fort ships Ships built in Canada Ministry of War Transport ships World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom