D/S Akershus
Updated Febr. 13-2011

To Akershus on the "Ships starting with A" page.


Source: Bjørn Pedersen's collection.

These original images from the Norwegian National Archives show her voyages:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.

Voyage Record From May-1940 to Aug.-1944:

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Errors may exist, and several voyages are missing.

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1940	May 27	Southend	St Malo	–	OA 156	Earlier voyages, Page 1 For St. Malo. Convoy available at OA 156 (external link) Page 1 gives arrival May 28. Also, missing voyages
	Oct. 11	Clyde	Methil	Oct. 14	WN 22	Convoy available at WN 22 (external link)
	Oct. 17	Methil	Southend	Oct. 19	FS 312	Convoy available at FS 312 (external link) See also Page 1
	Nov. 11	Southend	Methil	Nov. 14	FN 332	Convoy available at FN 332 (external link) Missing 1940 voyages: Page 1
1941	Aug. 4	Methil Roads	Loch Ewe	Aug. 6	EC 54	Earlier 1941 voyages: Page 1 above & Page 2 Convoy available at EC 54 (external link)
*	Aug. 6	Liverpool	–	–	ON 5	For Iceland. Dispersed 53 29N 37 35W, Aug. 14.
	*Convoy ON 5 did start out in Liverpool on Aug. 6 and dispersed on the 14th, but Akershus sailed from Loch Ewe on Aug. 8 and arrived Reykjavik on the 13th - See Page 2.
1944	July 31	Barry	Southampton	Aug. 2	EBC 58	Earlier 1944 voyages: Page 2 (see also narrative below). Convoy available at EBC 58 (external link) Later voyages: Page 2 & Page 3

Misc. War Voyages:

For information on voyages made in between those mentioned here, please see the documents received from the Norwegian archives and Hague's Voyage Record above.

According to Page 1 of the archive documents, Akershus was in Antwerp when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. Towards the end of May that year, she was briefly in Convoy OA 156, which left Southend on May 27 and was dispersed 3 days later. She was bound for St. Malo at the time, arriving there on May 28. The Norwegian Bjørkhaug, Inger Lise, Ruth I and Varangberg are also listed; see the external link provided within the Voyage Record.

In Oct.-1940 she made a voyage from Clyde to Methil with Convoy WN 22, departing Clyde on Oct. 11, arriving Methil on the 14th. She left Methil again on the 17th in Convoy FS 312, which arrived Southend on Oct. 19. On Nov. 11, A. Hague has included her in Convoy FN 332 from Southend, arriving Methil on Nov. 14. The Norwegian Edle, Kolsdal and Raftsund are also listed in this convoy, while Akershus was the only Norwegian ship in the other 2 convoys - again, see links in the table above (note, however, that the listing for FS 312 and FN 332 is incomplete).

Her 1941 also start on Page 1 and continue on Page 2.

When the U-boats started to move further and further west in the Atlantic, posing a serious threat to ships that had belonged to dispersed convoys and were left to sail on alone, the Allies established escort bases in Iceland and St. John's, New Foundland early on in 1941. From Apr.-1941 the Iceland escorts were responsible for convoys between 18W and 35W. From May that year the Canadian Navy was responsible for escorting ships from 35W to the convoy terminals in Sydney, C.B. and Halifax. Better air protection was also provided after British aircraft were stationed in Iceland in April. Also, the Norwegian 330th Squadron was stationed there.

At the end of July-1941 Akershus was fitted out as a salvage vessel by the Admiralty and stationed in Iceland. Early the following month she made a voyage from Methil Roads to Loch Ewe with Convoy EC 54, having departed Methil Roads on Aug. 4, arriving Loch Ewe on the 6th. (This convoy, which is also available via link in the table above, had originated at Southend on Aug. 2 and arrived Clyde on the 8th. The Norwegian Cetus, Colombia, Libra, Rym, Sneland I and Torfinn Jarl also took part). She subsequently joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 5, in order to sail to Iceland. She arrived Reykjavik Aug. 13, having left Loch Ewe on Aug. 8. Convoy ON 5 was dispersed in 53 29N 37 35W on Aug. 14, and included several Norwegian ships; follow the link for more details.

As will be seen when going back to Page 2, there's now a big gap in her voyage information; it looks like she remained in Iceland until 1944.

In the spring of 1944 she was transferred to Cowes, Isle of Wight to be used during the invasion of Normandie (Operation Overlord - D-day), where about 50 Norwegian ships took part.

On July 10-1944 she's listed, with destination Southampton, in the Advance Sailing Telegram for Convoy RU 126A from Iceland to the U.K. There's no mention of this in the document for this convoy, but according to Page 2, she put back to Reykjavik on July 11, leaving again for Southampton that same day, eventually arriving there, via various other ports, on Aug. 2. For the last part of this voyage, A. Hague has included her in Convoy EBC 58 (together with the Norwegian Acasta, Hildur I and Thore Hafte - link above).

Further voyages can be found on Page 2 as well as Page 3. As will be seen, she made a voyage to Kristiansand, Norway in July-1945, and again in Aug.-1945.

POST WAR:

Sold in 1950.

Back to Akershus on the "Ships starting with A" page.

(Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab had a container ship named Akershus built 1977, 495 gt, Became 635 gt in 1983).

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, and misc., including Voyage Record received from Don Kindell (His source: The late Arnold Hague's database).