''Empire Birch'' was a

tug 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, suc ...

built in 1941 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). In 1942 she struck a mine and sank.

Description

''Empire Birch'' was built by Henry Scarr Ltd, Hessle. She was yard number 418 and was launched on 9 August 1941 with completion on 12 December. She was long, with a beam of and a draught of . Her GRT was 245 with a NRT of 229.

Career

''Empire Birch'' was operated by the MoWT, her port of registry was

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

. She was the lead ship of the ''Birch''-class tugs. On 10 August 1942, ''Empire Birch'' hit a mine 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), ...

off the coast of

Portuguese East Africa Portuguese Mozambique () or Portuguese East Africa () were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas province. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a str ...

north of

Lourenço Marques Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

(). Although she was beached and abandoned, ''Empire Birch'' slid off the beach and sank in deep water.

Official Numbers 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 Bermuda'' 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 ...

167111 and 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 ...

BCMV.

Propulsion

''Empire Birch'' 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 heat ...

which had cylinders of , and bore by stroke. It was built by the O D Holmer & Co, Hull.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empire Birch 1941 ships Ships built on the Humber Tugboats of the United Kingdom Ministry of War Transport ships Empire ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Ships sunk by mines Maritime incidents in August 1942 World War II shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean