History
Derbyshire was launched in late 1975 and entered service in June 1976, as the last ship of the Bridge-class combination carrier, originally named Liverpool Bridge. Liverpool Bridge and English Bridge (later Worcestershire) were built by Seabridge for Bibby Line. The ship was laid up for two of its four year service life.
In 1978, Liverpool Bridge was renamed Derbyshire, the fourth vessel to carry the name in the company's fleet. On July 11 1980, on what turned out to be the vessel's final voyage, Derbyshire left Sept-Îles, Canada, her destination being Kawasaki, Japan. Derbyshire was carrying a cargo of 157,446 tonnes of iron ore.
On September 9 1980, Derbyshire hove-to in Typhoon Orchid some 230 miles from Okinawa, and was overwhelmed by the tropical storm, and sank with the loss of all 42 crew members on board, plus the wives of two crew members. Derbyshire never issued a Mayday distress message.
The search for Derbyshire commenced on September 15 1980 and was called off six days later when no trace of the vessel was found, and it was declared lost.
Six weeks after Derbyshire sank, one of the vessel's lifeboats was sighted by a Japanese tanker.
In June 1994, the wreck of Derbyshire was found at a depth of 4 km, spread over 1.3 km. A bronze plaque was placed on the wreckage as a memorial for those who were lost on board Derbyshire.
Read more about this topic: MV Derbyshire
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