SS Lambridge

History
United Kingdom
Name	Glennevis
Namesake	Glen Nevis, Scotland
Owner	Western Steam Ship Co, Glasgow
Operator	James Gardiner & Co
Port of registry	Glasgow
Builder	Ayrshire Dockyard Company Ltd, Irvine
Yard number	445
Launched	2 March 1917
Completed	May 1917
Out of service	1922
Fate	Sold
Name	African Prince
Owner	Rio Cape Line, Ltd.
Operator	Furness Withy
Port of registry	Newcastle upon Tyne
Acquired	1922
Out of service	1936
Identification	code letters JPRN (until 1933) UK official number 137842
Fate	Sold
Name	Pentridge Hill
Namesake	Pentridge Hill, Dorset
Owner	Dorset Steam Ship Company
Operator	Counties Ship Management
Port of registry	London
Acquired	1936
Out of service	1939
Identification	Call sign GQTZ (from 1934) UK Official Number 137842
Fate	Sold
Name	Botlea
Owner	Ministry of War Transport (1939)
Operator	Sir Wm. Reardon Smith & Sons (1939–43 or 44?) Weidner, Hopkins & Co (?–1945)
Port of registry	London
Acquired	1939
Out of service	1939
Identification	Call sign GQTZ (from 1934) UK Official Number 137842
Name	HMS Lambridge (X15)
Owner	Admiralty
Operator	Royal Navy
Acquired	1939
In service	1939
Out of service	1941
Name	Lambridge
Owner	Admiralty
Port of registry
In service	1941
Out of service	1945
Fate	Scuttled
General characteristics
Type	Cargo ship
Tonnage	5,119 GRT tonnage under deck 4,800 3,245 NRT
Length	400.7 feet (122.1 m) p/p
Beam	53.4 feet (16.3 m)
Draught	24 feet 1 inch (7.34 m)
Depth	27.4 feet (8.4 m)
Installed power	510 NHP
Propulsion	3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine; single screw
Speed	10.5 knots (19.4 km/h)

SS Lambridge was a 5,119 GRT UK cargo ship that was built in 1917, gave 28 years of service and was scuttled in 1945. She was launched as Glennevis but changed owners and names a number of times, successively becoming African Prince, Pentridge Hill, Botlea, HMS Lambridge and Lambridge. She was scuttled as part of a programme to dispose of UK stocks of chemical weapons.

Building

The Ayrshire Dockyard Company Ltd. built the ship to the UK Shipping Controller's standard "B" type cargo ship design. She had nine corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of 119 square feet (11 m²) heating three 180 lb_f/in² single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 7,647 square feet (710 m²). The boilers fed a Dunsmuir and Jackson three-cylinder 510 NHP triple expansion steam engine that drove a single screw propeller.

Names and owners

The ship was launched in 1917 as Glennevis for the Western Steam Ship Company of Glasgow. In 1922 she was sold to Furness Withy who renamed her African Prince. In 1936 she was sold to the Dorset Steamship Company, which renamed her Pentridge Hill. Dorset SS Co was a London-based company controlled by Counties Ship Management.

In 1939 she was sold to Sir Wm. Reardon Smith & Sons, Ltd, who renamed her Botlea. In September and October 1939 she became one of nine merchant ships that the Admiralty acquired to convert into Q-ships. Botlea was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Lambridge with the pennant number X15. The Q-ships were not successful and from February 1941 she served as the armed merchant cruiser Lambridge.

Scuttling

After the Second World War the Admiralty used her to dispose of redundant chemical ammunition. On 30 December 1945 she was scuttled in the North Atlantic beyond the continental shelf, 120 miles (190 km) northwest of Ireland. Her wreck is at 55°30′N 11°00′W in 8,200 feet (2,500 m) of water.

Lambridge was one of four redundant cargo ships that the Admiralty used to dispose of chemical ammunition at the same site in the North Atlantic. The others were Empire Simba on 11 September, Empire Cormorant on 1 October and Wairuna on 30 October.

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Approximate position of Lambridge's wreck