SS Empire Energy

The ship as Grete
History
Name
  • 1923: Grete
  • 1934: Gabbiano
  • 1940: Empire Energy
Owner
Operator1940: ER Management Co, Ltd
Port of registry
BuilderAG "Neptun", Rostock
CompletedJuly 1923
Identification
Captured10 June 1940
FateWrecked, 5 November 1941
General characteristics
Typecargo ship
Tonnage6,567 GRT, 4,006 NRT
Length440.0 ft (134.1 m)
Beam57.1 ft (17.4 m)
Draught25 ft 9+14 in (7.85 m)
Depth29.5 ft (9.0 m)
Decks2
Installed power
Propulsion1 × screw
Sensors &
processing systems

SS Empire Energy was a cargo steamship. She was built in Germany in 1923 as Grete for small German tramp shipping company. In 1934 the Italian shipping magnate Achille Lauro bought her and renamed her Gabbiano.

When Italy entered the Second World War in 1940, Gabbiano was in a British port, so the Royal Navy seized her. The UK Ministry of Shipping renamed her Empire Energy, and appointed a British tramp company to manage her. In 1941 she was wrecked on the coast of Newfoundland. Her wreck remains on the shore at Cape Norman to this day.