SS Empire Fowey

As built, the ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of . She was assessed at , . Accommodation for 286 passengers was provided. The ship was propelled by two steam turbines, driving electric motors, driving twin screw propellers. The turbines were constructed by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg and the electric motors were by Siemens-Schuckertwerke AG, Berlin. ==History==

The ship was built in 1935 by Blohm & Voss Hamburg, Germany for the Hamburg America Line. Her port of registry was Hamburg. It was intended to use her on the Hamburg–Southampton–Far East service. Following a decision by Hamburg America Line and Norddeutscher Lloyd to revise the way the two companies worked together, she was sold before completion to Norddeutscher Lloyd. The Code Letters DOQS were allocated. Her port of registry was changed to Bremen. The route was Hamburg–Southampton–Palma–Barcelona–Genoa–Colombo–Shanghai–Yokohama. Her maiden voyage was not without problems. Potsdam was en route to the United States when war was declared. She returned to Germany by sailing around the north coast of Scotland. she was initially used as an accommodation ship at Hamburg. Had she been converted, she would have carried 24 aircraft and been armed with 6 dual 4.1 inch Anti-Aircraft guns, 5 dual 3.7mm Anti-Aircraft guns and 24 to 32 20mm Anti-Aircraft guns. She was placed under the management of the P&O Line. Following the rebuild, she was assessed at . She now had accommodation for 1,636 troops. On 23 April 1955, she ran aground in the Suez Canal but was refloated after twelve hours. The matter was raised in Parliament by Tom Iremonger, MP for Ilford North. A report by Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation John Boyd-Carpenter stated that ventilation on the lower decks had been improved and that there would be greater variety in the menu offered. In June 1956, Empire Fowey was on a voyage from Singapore to Hong Kong when a passenger on board suffered a perforated duodenum. A surgeon and medical party were flown out the ship in a Royal Air Force Short Sunderland aircraft. They decided that an operation could not be carried out on board ship and she returned to Singapore to land the patient, who was taken to the Military Hospital for an emergency operation. Empire Fowey was withdrawn from service in February 1960. She was put up for sale to "foreign or other buyers" in 1960, a decision criticised by Irene Ward, MP for Tynemouth. Initially chartered by the Pan-Islamic Steamship Co, Karachi, Pakistan. She was sold to them in 1960 and renamed Safina-E-Hujjaj. She was in service until 20 February 1976. Safina-E-Hujjaj arrived at the Gadani ship-breaking yard on 22 November 1976 for scrapping. ==References==