Empire Ballantyne was built by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Glasgow as yard number 1093. She was launched on 21 October 1941 and completed in February 1942.[2] She was built for the MoWT and was to have been operated under the management of W A Souter & Co Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne.[3] On 15 February 1942 she was transferred to the Régie de la Marine[4] of the Belgian Government and renamed Belgian Airman. She was managed by Compagnie Maritime Belge, Antwerp.[5]
Convoy HX 228 sailed from New York on 28 February 1943 and arrived at Liverpool on 15 March. Belgian Airman was one of the ships that detached from the convoy and proceeded to Halifax, Nova Scotia in order to reduce the size of the convoy to 60 ships.[8]
HX 229A
Convoy HX 229A which from New York on 9 March 1943 and arrived at Liverpool on 26 March. Belgian Airman joined at Halifax on 12 March. During the voyage, Belgian Airman was damaged by ice and diverted to Reykjavík, Iceland. She was carrying a cargo of steel and timber.[9]
SL 136
Convoy SL 136 sailed from Freetown, Sierra Leone on 3 September 1943 and arrived at Liverpool on 23 September. Belgian Airman was destined for Loch Ewe.[10]
The fate of the U-857 is unknown. It disappeared in the Atlantic in April, 1945. One theory is that it was sunk by a US Navy Airship with a Mk 24 FIDO Air-Dropped ASW Homing Torpedo.[14]
Official number and code letters
Official Numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers.
Empire Ballantyne had the UK Official Number 168706 and the Code Letters BCHQ were allocated to her.[3]
^Mitchell, W H, and Sawyer, L A (1995). The Empire Ships. London, New York, Hamburg, Hong Kong: Lloyd's of London Press Ltd. p. 24. ISBN1-85044-275-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)