The ships were built on behalf of the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). The basis and type ship of the design was the freighter Tudor Queen, built in 1941 by the Burntisland Shipbuilding Company for the British Channel Islands Shipping Company in London . Based on his model, 10 ships were built at the John Lewis shipyards in Aberdeen, Ardrossan Dockyard in Ardrossan and George Brown & Company in Greenock.
The type of ship was designed as a bulk cargo coastal freighter for island service. The deck layout of the ships was based on the raised quarter decker and corrugated decker designs of the Colliers of those years. Behind the forecastle , a deep main deck joined the forward cargo hold . Behind it, a little further forward than amidships , was the forward deckhouse with the bridge. Behind the bridge superstructure was the rear cargo hold, the weather deck of which was built higher than the front. Behind it was a raised poop that housed the crew. The engine room was aft and a triple expansion steam engine served as the propulsion system . With a length of almost 65 meters and a width of a good ten meters, the units had a load capacity of 1,360 tons. The construction of the series lasted from 1944 to 1946.
In the post-war period, the ships were used by various shipping companies, mainly in European timber and bulk cargo shipping.
The ships
Tudor queen type
Building name
Shipyard / construction number
delivery
Later names and whereabouts
Empire Cheyne
Lewis / 182
December 26, 1944
1946 Saltfleet , stranded in the fog near Reedness on October 3rd on a journey with coal from Goole to Poole and sank the following day, later scrapped in situ
