MV Empire MacCallum
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom |
|
| Name: | Empire MacCallum |
| Owner: | Ministry of War Transport |
| Operator: | Hain Steam Ship Co Ltd |
| Builder: | Lithgows, Glasgow, Scotland |
| Launched: | 12 October 1943 |
| Renamed: |
|
| Fate: | Scrapped Osaka 1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 8,250 tons (gross) |
| Length: | 425 ft (130 m) (pp) 444 ft 6 in (135.48 m) (oa) |
| Beam: | 57 ft 9 in (17.60 m) |
| Depth: | 24 ft 6 in (7.47 m) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h) |
| Complement: | 107 |
| Armament: |
|
| Aircraft carried: | Four Fairey Swordfish |
MV Empire MacCallum was a grain ship converted to become a Merchant Aircraft Carrier or MAC ship.
Contents
History
MV Empire MacCallum was built at Lithgows shipyard, Glasgow, Scotland, under order from the Ministry of War Transport. As a MAC ship, only her air crew and the necessary maintenance staff were naval personnel [1] and she was operated by Hain Steam Ship Co Ltd of St Ives.[2] On 7 July 1944, a Fairey Swordfish aircraft torpedoed and sank the Free French submarine La Perle in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland.[3] Amongst the aircraft that served on Empire MacCallum was Fairey Swordfish Mk II LS326 where it became part of 'K' flight. The aircraft had previously served on Rapana. As of November 2010, it is airworthy with the Royal Navy Historic Flight.[4]
After the war, the ship was converted to a grain carrier, and eventually scrapped at Osaka in 1960.[2]
