Builders: Murdoch & Murray of Port Glasgow 1912
Propulsion type: Compound Diagonal by Rankin & Blackmore Greenock
Owners: John Williamson & Co, Williamson-Buchanan Steamers Ltd, Caledonian Steam Packet Co Ltd
Service dates: 1912 - 1945
Tonnage: Net 164 Gross 411
Comments:
Queen Empress followed the design of the Caledonian Steam Packet Co ships of the period, in whose colours she finished her peacetime career from 1938. In the First World War she worked as a troopship between Southampton and France. During that time she collided with a destroyer off the French Coast. The Clyde steamer Duchess of Argyll was near and took her and her 100 troops in tow. She later saw service as a minesweeper and then as ambulance transport in the White Sea. Queen Empress returned to the Clyde in 1920 and was used for excursion work for the next nine years. After that she succeeded Lord of the Isles from Glasgow. She became a railway connection ship in 1936 and in 1938 she was run by and wore the colours of the Caledonian Steam Packet Co, but she remained the property of Williamson-Buchanan. After service again in the Second World War she was found to be in too poor condition to return to service and was scrapped. A pleasing ship to look at, she wore her Williamson-Buchanan colours particularly well. For a close up of her paddle box click here.
For a personal account from Len Skelton of HMS Queen Empress in 1943 when she was engaged as a minesweeper, please click here