MV Empire MacKendrick

MV Empire MacKendrick was a Merchant Aircraft Carrier or MAC ship converted to become a grain ship.

History
United Kingdom
Name	Empire MacKendrick
Owner	Ministry of War Transport
Builder	Burntisland Shipbuilding Company Ltd, Fife, Scotland
Laid down	24 April 1943
Launched	29 September 1943
Renamed	Granpond in 1946 Condor in 1949 Saltersgate in 1955 Vassil Levsky in 1957
Fate	Scrapped Split 1975
General characteristics
Tonnage	7,950 GRT
Length	412.5 ft (125.7 m) (pp) 433.75 ft (132.21 m) (oa)
Beam	56.75 ft (17.30 m)
Depth	24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Propulsion	Diesel one shaft 3,300 bhp
Speed	12.5 knots (23.2 km/h)
Complement	107
Armament	1 × 4 in (100 mm) 2 × 40 mm 4 × 20 mm
Aircraft carried	Four Fairey Swordfish

The Burntisland Shipbuilding Company Ltd, Fife, Scotland, built her under order from the Ministry of War Transport and was delivered on 12 December 1943.^[1] As a MAC ship, only her air crew and the necessary maintenance staff were naval personnel.^[2] She was operated by William Thomson & Co (the Ben Line).^[3]

After the war the ship was converted to a grain carrier. In 1967, while under Bulgarian management, she was trapped in the Suez Canal by the Six-Day War. She was scrapped at Split in 1975.^[3]

See also

• List of aircraft carriers