SS London Valour
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
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| Name: | SS London Valour |
| Owner: | London & Overseas Freighters |
| Operator: | London & Overseas Freighters |
| Port of registry: |
 London |
| Builder: | |
| Cost: | £1,879,000 |
| Yard number: | 476 |
| Launched: | 12 June 1956 |
| Completed: | 6 December 1956 |
| Identification: |
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| Fate: | wrecked off Genoa 9 April 1970 |
| Status: | forward part sank 50 miles (80 km) west of Cap Corse; after part scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: |
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| Tonnage: | |
| Length: | 180.8 m (593 ft) |
| Beam: | 24.49 m (80.3 ft) |
| Draught: | 9.82 m (32.2 ft) |
| Installed power: | 8,200 shp |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 14 knots (26 km/h) |
| Crew: | 56 |
| Notes: |
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SS London Valour was a British merchant ship belonging to London & Overseas Freighters (LOF). She was built as an oil tanker in England in 1956 and converted into a bulk carrier in Italy in 1966. She was wrecked in a gale just outside the Port of Genoa in 1970, resulting in the deaths of 20 of the 58 people aboard.
Furness Shipbuilding Co Ltd of Haverton Hill-on-Tees built London Valour in 1956 as an oil tanker. She was launched on 12 June and completed on 6 December. She was LOF's first steam turbine-driven tanker. She had twin steam turbines producing a total of 8,200 shaft horsepower between them. They were double reduction-geared onto a single shaft to drive a single screw. The turbines were built by Richardsons Westgarth & Company of Hartlepool, which was part of the same group as Furness Shipbuilding.
London Valour was a typical tanker of her era, with an accommodation block and her single funnel aft and her bridge on a larger accommodation block amidships. As built, she had two goalpost masts: one forward, just aft of her bow, and the other astern of her midships accommodation block.
London Valour was the first of five 24,900 long tons deadweight (DWT) sister ships ordered from Furness. The next two, SS London Tradition and SS London Resolution, were launched and completed in 1957. The final two were built for London and Overseas Tankers: a company in which LOF held a 50% share. SS Overseas Pioneer was launched and completed in 1958; SS Overseas Explorer was launched in 1958 and completed in 1959.
For several years the five sisters traded profitably, but in the early 1960s LOF's competitors started to operate new supertankers of about 150,000 long tons deadweight (DWT): six times the size of Valour or her sisters, and with much lower operating costs per ton. LOF continued to get cargoes on the spot market for its tanker fleet, but at scant profit.
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