‘STANDARD FAST’

At the onset of World War II, British merchant shipbuilding was quickly put on a war footing. Painful lessons had been learned from World War I about the necessity of replacing losses, and standardisation of ship types was seen as a priority. For dry cargo ships, effort was initially concentrated on ‘tramp’ type tonnage. These were based on a modern design, but with steam reciprocating engines capable of little more than 11 knots, although economical and highly reliable.

Given the mounting scale of losses, this was undoubtedly the best policy. The typical standard tramp, based on the Sunderland-built Dorrington Court of 1939, went on to be built in considerable numbers in Britain, Canada and the US, where with modifications it morphed into the ‘Liberty’ type.

THE NEED FOR SPEED

However, wartime experience showed that faster, more capable ships were also desirable. Fortunately, Britain had a considerable fleet of cargo liners, well equipped with cargo gear and capable of