SS Empire Simba

SS "Empire Simba" was a British steam-powered cargo ship. She was originally an American ship, launched in 1918 as SS "West Cohas". During a stint in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919, she was known as USS "West Cohas" (ID-3253).

"West Cohas" was built in 1918 for the ] At Bermuda, "West Cohas" joined a convoy to Halifax and then on to Liverpool. At about 10:30 on 19 August, "West Cohas" lost track of the convoy but continued on independently, [cite web | last = Lawson | first = Siri | title = Convoy HX 64 | url = http://warsailors.com/convoys/hx64.html | work = Ships in Atlantic Convoys | publisher = WarSailors.com | date = | accessdaymonth = 22 September | accessyear = 2008 ] arriving at Liverpool on 23 August. "West Cohas" sailed for Methil five days later and arrived on 1 September.

Transferred to the Ministry of War Transport and renamed "Empire Simba", the ship was assigned to Andrew Weir & Co. of London for operation. After spending six weeks at Methil, where she had an advanced ship degaussing system installed among other repairs, "Empire Simba" set made her way to Oban via Lyness in mid November. She set out for North America in Convoy OB-253 on 2 December.cite web | title = Port Arrivals/Departures: Empire Miniver | url = http://convoyweb.org.uk/ports/index.html?search.php?vessel=EMPIRE+SIMBA~armain | work = Arnold Hague's Ports Database | publisher = Convoy Web | date = | accessdaymonth = 22 September | accessyear = 2008 ] Four days out, heavy weather dispersed the convoy, and "Empire Simba" proceeded independently. The ship continued to take a beating from heavy seas which opened the number one cargo hold to the ocean. Because the water was coming in faster than the bilge pumps in the hold number one could pump, the crew cut through the bulkheads into cargo hold number two to double the pumping capacity and were able to keep the ship under control long enough to arrive in Bermuda on 26 December. After temporary repairs were made there, "Empire Simba" sailed on 6 January 1942 first to Halifax and then to Baltimore for more permanent repairs.

After two weeks in Baltimore, "Empire Simba" headed to Hampton Roads, Virginia, to take on another load of scrap iron for the UK. After making her way to Halifax by early February, she sailed on 9 February as a part of Convoy HX-108, [cite AHCD | convoytype = HX | convoynumber = 108 | accessdaymonth = 22 September | accessyear = 2008 ] but dropped out and joined up with Convoy SC-22, a slower convoy that had left Halifax a day earlier. [cite AHCD | convoytype = SC | convoynumber = 22 | accessdaymonth = 22 September | accessyear = 2008 ] Off the Northern Ireland coast, the convoy escorts broke off and "Empire Simba" and three other ships sailed into the Irish Sea. Headed to her destination of Port Talbot, "Empire Simba" was at the back of the line of the four ships. At 13:00 on 1 March, a German bomber attacked the column and had a near miss on "Empire Simba". The force of the explosion shattered the main water injection pipe in the engine room, flooding her engine room and leaving the ship dead in the water. The German bomber, with smoke trailing from it after being hit by bullets from one of "Empire Simba"'s two Hotchkiss Mark I machine guns, headed off for Ireland. There were no towing vessels immediately available for "Empire Simba", so as darkness approached, "Empire Simba"'s crew abandoned the ship for the escorting trawler. Taking the ship's two machine guns, the chronometer, and some personal belongings, the crew were landed at Milford Haven. "Empire Simba" was saved and towed into Birkenhead, where the officers rejoined with their erstwhile ship. During an overnight bombing raid on the night of 12/13 March, German bombers parachuted land mines on Birkenhead. One landed on "Empire Simba" and exploded, causing significant damage to the ship.

By mid-August 1941, "Empire Simba", with a completely new crew, had been repaired enough to set out in a Liverpool – Freetown convoy, but evidently returned to Liverpool the same day. After making her way to Oban on 9 September, she began the first of seven roundtrips to Freetown over the next 18 months. Twice, when setting out with convoys, "Empire Simba" had to return to port with unspecified problems. [cite AHCD | convoytype = OS | convoynumber = 19 | accessdaymonth = 22 September | accessyear = 2008 ] [cite AHCD | convoytype = SL | convoynumber = 114 | accessdaymonth = 22 September | accessyear = 2008 ] In a third convoy sailing, a problem with her steering gear caused her to collide with another convoy ship, "Empire Scott", [Hutson, p. 85.] and on 1 August, "Empire Simba" straggled and dropped out of the convoy. [cite AHCD | convoytype = OS | convoynumber = 19 | accessdaymonth = 22 September | accessyear = 2008 ] [cite AHCD | convoytype = SL | convoynumber = 116 | accessdaymonth = 22 September | accessyear = 2008 ]

In February and March 1944, "Empire Simba" made an extended roundtrip from the UK to Gibraltar. During this time, she called at Valencia and Burriana in neutral Spain on 15 and 18 March, respectively. Between April 1944 and June 1945 she made four transatlantic crossings, interrupted by another trip to Freetown in December 1944. By August 1945, "Empire Simba" was at anchor in the harbor of Cairn Ryan in the west of Scotland. There she was loaded with 8,000 tons of chemical weapons that had been stockpiled for use if the Germans had used chemical weapons first. On 11 September, "Empire Simba" was scuttled at location coord|55|12|N|11|0|W|display=inline,title.

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