The MV Empire City was a cargo ship constructed in 1943 by William Doxford & Sons Ltd in Sunderland, designed for service during World War II under the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She measured 428 feet 8 inches (130.66 meters) in length, with a beam of 56 feet 5 inches (17.20 meters) and a depth of 35 feet 5 inches (10.80 meters). Her gross register tonnage (GRT) was 7,295, and her net register tonnage (NRT) was 4,941, reflecting her substantial cargo capacity. Powered by a 2-stroke, single-cycle, single-action diesel engine with eight cylinders measuring 23+5/8 inches in diameter and a stroke of 91+5/16 inches, Empire City was engineered for reliable maritime operation. The ship was launched on 15 July 1943 and placed under the management of A Weir & Co Ltd, with Sunderland designated as her port of registry. Her official code letters were BFLB, and she bore the United Kingdom official number 180046. During her wartime service, Empire City participated in various convoys, including convoy ON 212, which departed Liverpool on 19 November 1943 en route to New York, and convoy DKA 21, traveling from Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) in Portuguese East Africa to Port Said, Egypt, via Aden. On her voyage with convoy DKA 21, she was carrying 8,403 tons of coal. Empire City’s service ended on 6 August 1944 when she was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat U-198 off Mocímboa da Praia, Portuguese East Africa. Two engineers lost their lives in the attack; however, the remaining 48 crew members and 20 Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunners were rescued and landed at Pekawi, Portuguese East Africa. U-198 was itself sunk on 12 August 1944. The crew members who perished in the loss of Empire City are commemorated at the Tower Hill Memorial in London, marking her as a notable casualty of wartime maritime conflict.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.