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Empress of Britain was the largest
and fastest liner built for the Canadian
Pacific Line at that time. Her maiden
voyage from Southampton - Cherbourg and
Quebec began May 27th 1931. With a
crossing from Cherbourg - Farther Point
in 4 days, 19 hours and 35 minutes,
Empress of Britain
set a new record on the Canada run. The
decline in emigration trade to Canada at
that time led to her being operated on
one world cruise each year. After King
GeorgeVI and Queen Elizabeth completed
their good-will tour of North America in
June of 1939, Empress of
Britain was chartered for their
return journey to Britain. Three months
later, the outbreak of World War Two
forced the British Admiralty to
requisition Empress of
Britain to serve as a
troopship.
Her first involvement in the war
consisted of two trooping voyages from
Halifax - Clyde/Scotland. In March 1940,
Empress of Britain
set out for Australia and New Zealand to
join up with the other Allied liners
Queen Mary,
Aquitania, Mauretania and
Andes in a convoy transporting
troops to Europe. Empress
of Britain embarked on her
next trooping voyage from England - Suez
via the Cape in October 1940. While
nearing Ireland on her return journey,
she was attacked by a long range German
Focke-Wulf aircraft. The bombs that found
their target caused so much damage
Empress of Britain
had to be taken in tow by the Polish
destroyer Burza and two tugs. Two
days later, October 28th, the German
submarine U-32 tracked Empress
of Britain down and fired
two torpedoes into her hull. The
extensive damage sustained in that attack
forced the crew abandon ship.
Empress of Britain
went down soon after with the loss of
around 50 of her crew between the two
attacks.
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