MV Brisbane Star

MV Brisbane Star was a British refrigerated cargo liner. She was built by Cammell Laird and Co in 1936–37 as one of Blue Star Line's MV Imperial Star (1935)-class ships, designed to ship frozen meat from Australia and New Zealand to the United Kingdom. The ship served in the Second World War and is distinguished for her role in Operation Pedestal to relieve the siege of Malta in August 1942. She was owned by a succession of Blue Star-controlled companies until 1963, when she was sold to a Liberian-registered company who renamed her Enea. Later that same year she was scrapped in Japan.

Building

Cammell Laird and Co in Birkenhead, England built the sister ships MV Melbourne Star (1936) and Brisbane Star and launched them on the same day, 7 July 1936. Melbourne Star was completed in November 1936, followed by Brisbane Star in January 1937. Both ships were initially owned by Union Cold Storage, a ship-owning company controlled by Blue Star Line.

The Imperial Star class were motor ships. Melbourne Star and Brisbane Star each had a pair of 10-cylinder two-stroke single-acting Sulzer Bros

Second World War service

Brisbane Star's regular cargo liner route was from London via South Africa to Australia or New Zealand, returning by the same route laden with frozen meat. En route she tended to call at either Las Palmas or Cape Verde, presumably for bunkering.[2]

During the war it was strategically important to continue meat imports to the UK. However, under wartime conditions Brisbane Star's route was increasingly changed. After France surrendered to Germany in June 1940 the Port of London became too dangerous, so instead the ship used Liverpool or sometimes Avonmouth or Newport, Wales. From 1940 her voyages home from Australia or New Zealand tended to be eastward via the Pacific Ocean and Panama Canal instead of westward via the Indian Ocean, South Africa and the South Atlantic.[2]

At times the Brisbane Star was taken off her usual service to support operations in the Mediterranean. Blue Star also had a regular trade importing frozen meat to the UK from South America, where Brisbane Star five times from 1941 to 1944. In 1941 she also made one visit to Bombay and two to Colombo.[2]

As she was a fast merchant ship Brisbane Star was left to make most of her wartime voyages unescorted. The few exceptions were mostly in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and sometimes outbound convoys from the UK from which she would either detach in mid-Atlantic or continue as far as Freetown in Sierra Leone.[2]

Middle East and Greece

At the end of August 1940 Brisbane Star was diverted to support Allied operations in the Middle East. She was a member of Convoy AP 3/1, which left Liverpool on 10 September and reached Suez on 22 October. But on 1 November, British and Empire forces had landed on Crete to support the Greek war effort, and on 5 November Brisbane Star came north through the Suez Canal and called at Port Said. Her destination was Souda Bay in Crete, where she arrived the next day under naval escort. She stayed until 14 November, when she returned under naval escort to Port Said.[2]

Operation Pedestal

On 31 July 1942 Brisbane Star entered the Firth of Clyde, where she and her sister Melbourne Star joined the Convoy WS 21S for Operation Pedestal to relieve the siege of Malta. The convoy left on 2 August under heavy naval escort and passed Gibraltar on 10 August, where it became Convoy MW 2.[2]

country	United Kingdom
namesake	Brisbane, Queensland
owner	Union Cold Storage Co 1937–42 Frederick Leyland & Co 1942–50 Lamport & Holt Line, 1950–59 Blue Star Line Ltd., 1959–63 *Margalante Compania Naviera SA, 1963
operator	Blue Star Line (1937–63)
registry	London
builder	Cammell Laird, Birkenhead
yard number	1016
launched	7 July 1936
completed	January 1937
decommissioned	15 October 1963
renamed	Enea, 1963
identification	UK official number 165365 Call sign GZCJ *
fate	Sold for scrap, 1963

Building

Second World War service

Middle East and Greece

Operation Pedestal

Post-war service

Sources

References

Nominal change of ownership

London and Hawaii