Empire Cromwell was a 5,970 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1941 by William Pickersgill & Sons Ltd, Sunderland, Co Durham, United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT).

[5] From Loch Ewe, she joined Convoy ON 20, which had departed from Liverpool, Lancashire on 25 September and dispersed at sea on 9 October.

Departing Tampa on 30 October, she returned to the Hampton Roads and then sailed to Sydney, Cape Breton, Canada, where she arrived on 9 November.

[4] Empire Cromwell sailed from Swansea to Milford Haven to join Convoy WP 134,[4] which departed on 30 April and arrived at Portsmouth, Hampshire the next day.

On 1 May,[4] she left Milford Haven to join Convoy OS 27, which departed from Liverpool on 2 May and arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone on 19 May.

[16] From Freetown, Empire Cromwell sailed via Durban, South Africa, Lourenço Marques, Mozambique and Aden to Suez, where she arrived on 15 August.

She then sailed to Suez, Aden and Lourenço Marques before arriving on 2 November at Cape Town, South Africa.

[4] Empire Cromwell departed Cape Town on 4 November,[4] for Trinidad and New York, United States.

She was carrying 1,000 tons of chrome ore. At 02:17 German time on 28 November, Empire Cromwell was torpedoed and sunk at 9°00′N 58°30′W / 9.000°N 58.500°W / 9.000; -58.500 by U-508,[17] under the command of Georg Staats.