''Basildon'' was a

coaster Coaster (stylized as COASTER) is a commuter rail service in the central and northern coastal regions of San Diego County, California, United States operated by the North County Transit District (NCTD). The commuter rail line features eight s ...

that was built in 1945 as ''Empire Bromley'' for 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 ...

(MoWT). She was sold into civil service in 1946 and renamed ''Levenwood''. Another change of ownership saw her renamed ''Basildon'' and she served under this name until scrapped in 1967.

Description

''Empire Bromley'' was built by G Brown & Co (Marine) Ltd,

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of ...

. She was yard number 233. Launched on 26 May 1945, she was completed in June 1945. The ship was long, with a beam of and a depth of . She was propelled by a

triple expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...

that had cylinders of , and bore by stroke. The engine was built by Rankin & Blackmore Ltd, Greenock. She had a GRT of 1,058, with a NRT of 584 and a DWT of 1,410.

Career

''Empire Bromley's'' port of registry was

. She was operated under the management of John Kelly Ltd, and then Joseph Constantine Steamship Co Ltd. In 1946, she was sold to Constantine Shipping Co and renamed ''Levenwood''. Her port of registry was changed to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. She was operated under the management of J Constantine Steamship Line Ltd. On 31 January 1953, ''Levenwood'' was in the

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

and in danger of drifting ashore on the

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...

coast. A distress call was issued and a

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

requested. ''Levenwood'' was sold in 1961 to Panax (Overseas) Ltd,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and renamed ''Basildon''. She was sold in 1962 to Don Shipping Co Ltd, operated under the management of C M Willie & Co (Shipping) Ltd. ''Basildon'' was sold in 1963 to R S Braggs & Co (Shipping) Ltd. She was scrapped in October 1967 at Burcht,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Official Numbers and Code Letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to

IMO Numbers IMO or Imo may refer to: Biology and medicine * Irish Medical Organisation, the main organization for doctors in the Republic of Ireland * Intelligent Medical Objects, a privately held company specializing in medical vocabularies * Isomaltoolig ...

. The ship had the UK

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their 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 have sometimes ...

169524. ''Empire Bromley'' 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 and today also. Later, with the i ...

GDTM.

SS ''Levenwood''

The Joseph Constantine Steamship Co Ltd also owned an earlier vessel that sailed under the name ''Levenwood''. The 800 ton store ship distinguished itself at Dunkirk on Friday 31 May 1940. The vessel was armed as a DEMS ship by soldiers of the Royal Lancashire Regiment and rescued soldiers from the

Bray-Dunes Bray-Dunes (; vls, Bray-Duunn) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is situated on the Belgian border, with Adinkerke being the closest Belgian town. It is the northernmost commune and the northernmost point in all of Fra ...

area of the beach during

Operation Dynamo Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basildon 1945 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the United Kingdom