SS Empire Ability
The Uhenfels was taken into service with the British, being renamed Empire Ability in April 1940 by the Ministry of War Transport. She was assigned to be operated by Elder Dempster Lines and sailed in a number of convoys. On 23 October 1940 she was among those bombed and damaged by German aircraft while waiting in Gare Loch for a convoy to assemble. On 27 February 1941 the Italian submarine Bianchi attacked convoy OB 290, and claimed to have scored a probable hit on the Empire Ability. The Empire Ability was not a part of this convoy however.
Empire Ability was a part of convoy SL 78 though, when it was attacked by German submarine U-69 on 27 June 1941. Empire Ability was carrying a cargo of 7,725 tons of sugar, 238 tons of rum, 400 tons of kernels and 35 tons of fibre, and was under the command of her master Herbert Flowerdew. The convoy was then 200 miles southeast of the Azores. U-69's commander, Jost Metzler, made several attacks, sinking the SS River Lugar at 0149 hours, and hitting the Empire Ability at 0237 hours with a single torpedo. The Empire Ability caught fire and was abandoned, sinking at 23°50′N 21°10′W / 23.833°N 21.167°W / 23.833; -21.167 21 minutes after having been hit. Only two people were killed, with a total of 107 crew, gunners, military personnel and assorted passengers successfully abandoning ship. The survivors were picked up by the SS Amerika and transferred to the corvette HMS Burdock. They were subsequently landed at Milford Haven. Those lost on Empire Ability are commemorated at the Tower Hill Memorial, London.
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