Bratton Castle

KFMW

BRATTON CASTLE was built in 1920 by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. at Newcastle with a tonnage of 6696grt, a length of 412ft 2in, a beam of 55ft 10in and a service speed of 11 knots.

With her sister, the Bampton Castle, she was laid down as an N1 type standard ship but was not allocated a "War" name.

Completed in May 1920 as a cargo ship she was the first ship in the company to have the cruiser stern profile although, not the true cruiser stern.

In 1931 she was sold to Rethymnis & Kulukundis of Pireaus and renamed, initially as Proteus but this was later changed to Mount Taurus.

On 17th November 1942 she was torpedoed by U-264 while in convoy ONS 144 which was crossing the North Atlantic from London to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A spread of three torpedoes was heard to explode after 3 min 40 secs, 3 min 56 secs and 4 min 31 secs yet the Mount Taurus was only hit once.

The other two explosions have never been explained.

Cargo Plan for Voyage 10 - July 1925

Plan drawn by G W  Lloyd - then serving as 3rd Officer

Launch of Bratton Castle - 1920

Master

From

To

G D Hinde

6/1920

10/1920

A H Hutchings

12/1920

2/1921

E G Hughes

4/1922

9/1922

A Barron

9/1922

1/1923

C R Purse

1/1923

3/1923

J Attwood

8/1923

6/1925

G J Whitfield

7/1924


D Nicoll

6/1925

9/1925

H Linklater

10/1925

3/1928

H E Weller

3/1928

4/1930

D Nicoll

6/1930

2/1931

Laid up

D Nicoll

10/1931

12/1931

Vessel

Built

Tonnage

Official No

Ship Builder

Engine Builder

Engine Type

HP

Screws

Bratton Castle

1920

6696

144539

Armstrong Whitworth

Newscastle

Armstrong Whitworth

Newscastle

Triple Expansion Steam

2500 IHP

1

Career Summary

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