Empire Heath was a 6,643 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1941 by Bartram & Sons Ltd for the Ministry of War Transport.

During the Second World War, she served as a CAM ship, capable of embarking and operating a Hawker Hurricane aircraft.

She sailed again from Cardiff on 28 August arriving at Gibraltar on 14 September with a deck cargo of 16 Spitfires and 2 Hawker Hurricane aircraft.

Empire Heath was north west of the small volcanic island of Trindade whilst sailing from Victoria, Brazil to Loch Ewe for orders, via Freetown, with a cargo of iron ore. On 11 May 1944, Empire Heath was located by the German submarine U-129 and discovered to be sailing without an escort northeast of Rio de Janeiro.

Subsequently, at 23.00 hours, U-129 fired a FAT torpedo which hit and Empire Heath sank rapidly.