The ships were built on behalf of the Ministry of War Transport (MOWT). They were designed as pure coastal freighters with a length of around 45 meters and a load capacity of around 400 tons. The ships had a forecastle , a deeply drawn main deck and a deckhouse arranged very aft above the raised poop and the engine room . The hull with transom consisted almost exclusively of straight-cut steel plates to simplify the construction. The ships were built in sections , with the individual sections largely not being manufactured in the shipyards, but being supplied from various farms. The drive system each served a diesel engine . The units were delivered in 1944/45 and were given names beginning with the term Empire , the second term of which began with the letter F. The construction series of a total of 24 units was carried out by the following two shipyards.
Parallel to the plans of the Empire F type of largely identical design was the coast tanker -series of Chant type (by Chan nel T performed anchor). An essential point with regard to the development of the two types of ship was the use during the landing in Normandy .
literature
Mitchell, William H .; Sawyer, Leonard A .: Empire Ships of World War II . Sea Breezes, Liverpool 1965.