[1] The United Kingdom Official Number 180048 and Code Letters GCJW were allocated.

[4] Empire Duke departed from Sunderland on 2 December for the Tyne, arriving that day.

[5] Empire Duke was a member of Convoy EN 350, which departed from Methil on 24 February and arrived at Loch Ewe two days later.

She left the convoy at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada,[14] arriving on 30 March.

[5] It may have been during this period that she was on loan to the Cambridge University Engineering Department for tests to be undertaken in connection with research into problems affecting various Liberty Ships (see below).

[16] She departed from Southend on 12 June as a member of Convoy ETM 7, which arrived at the Seine Bay, France the next day.

[5] Empire Duke departed from Southend on 30 October as a member of Convoy FN 1526, which arrived at Methil on 1 November.

[5] Early Liberty ships suffered problems with brittle fractures, leading to some of them breaking in two without warning.

Empire Duke was lent for the purpose of testing of the steel used to build ships in the United Kingdom.

[16] Constance Tipper proved that low temperatures sustained by Liberty ships in the North Atlantic were leading to brittle fractures.

[5] As a member of Convoy TAM 32, she departed Southend on 28 December and arrived at Antwerp the next day.

[21] In May 1946,[Note A] Empire Duke was transferred to the French Government and renamed Lieutenant J Le Meur,[1] after Julien Le Meur, an officer who had served on Île de France,[2] and had been killed in Provence on 28 August 1944,[22] whilst serving as a pilot with the Marine Nationale when his aircraft crashed.

[24] In 1949, Lieutenant J Le Meur was sold to the Compagnie Franco Chérifienne de Navigation', Casablanca, Morocco and was renamed Zelidja.

[2] In 1955, she was sold to Compagnia de Navigazione Hellespont SA, Monrovia, Liberia and was renamed Propontis,[1] after the Sea of Marmara.