The Fort ships were a class of 198
cargo ships built in Canada during
World War II for use by the
United Kingdom. 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,
Fort Stikine, 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 the
Park ships were those employed by the Canadian Government, both had the similar design.
Description
The Fort ships were 424 feet 6 inches (129.39 m) long with a beam of 57 feet 0 inches (17.37 m). They were assessed at 7,130
GRT. 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.[2]
History
The ships were built between 1941 and 1945 by ten different builders. The first to be built was
Fort St. James, 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.[3] 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,[4][5][6] and two ships, the former
Fort St. James and
Fort St. Paul, were listed on
Lloyd's Register until 1992.[5]
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.[7]
The lost are remembered in the Royal Canadian Naval Ships Memorial Monument in Spencer Smith Park in
Burlington, Ontario.[8]
Losses
Twenty-eight ships were lost due to enemy action and a further 25 due to accidents.[9]
On 3 March 1944,
Fort McLeod was torpedoed, shelled and sunk in the Indian Ocean by
I-162.[5]
On 19 May 1944,
Fort Missanabie was torpedoed and damaged in the Mediterranean Sea by
U-453. The fore section sank. The stern section was taken in tow but sank the next day.[5]
On 14 April 1944,
Fort Stikine exploded at Bombay and was obliterated. Twelve other vessels were lost.[5]
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 14 June 1953, Bedford Prince (formerly
Fort Gloucester) ran aground in the
Gulf of Paria. She was consequently scrapped.[4]
On 10 February 1954, Catherine M. S. (formerly
Fort Kilmar) ran aground off
Mojima Saki, Japan. She was consequently scrapped.[5]
On 16 October 1954, Travelstar (formerly
Fort La Baye) ran aground and caught fire in
Buckner Bay. She was declared a total loss.[5]
On 24 March 1955, Yaffo (formerly
Fort Kullyspell) ran aground in
Baffy Bay. She was refloated in 1957 and taken in to
Monrovia, Liberia. No further service recorded.[5]
On 12 April 1967, Silver Peak (formerly
Fort Lennox) ran aground in the
South China Sea 100 nautical miles (190 km) off the coast of Taiwan. She was declared a total loss and subsequently scrapped.[5]
On 25 February 1968, African Marquis (formerly
Fort Glenora) ran aground on
Kasos, Greece, and broke in two.[4]
In 1968, Zhan Dou 76 (formerly
Fort Wallace) became stranded. She was subsequently scrapped.[6]
On 18 December 1969, Ibrahim K (formerly
Fort McPherson) ran aground at
Tocra, Libya and broke up.[5]