D/S Carl Oftedal

To Carl Oftedal on the "Ships starting with C" page.

Built by New England Shipbuilding Corp., South Portland, ME (3100). Launched on March 13-1945 as Liberty Ship George N. Drake for US War Shipping Administration. 423.8' x 57.1' x 34.9', Triple exp. 2500 ihp, 11 knots. Taken over by Nortraship upon delivery on March 28-1945 and placed in service as Carl Oftedal. She was one of 5 ships taken over by Nortraship in 1945, the others are named on this page. ("Bergenske, byen og selskapet", Dag Bakka Jr. gives her tonnage as 7293 gt, 10 865 tdwt).

Carl Oftedal was near Okinawa in a convoy of about 50 ships in 1945 with a cargo of 8700 tons bombs, waiting for the weather to improve so that they could go in, when a typhoon suddenly hit the island, and some of the bombs came lose and were rolling around in No. 1 hold. The crew managed to secure this dangerous cargo, but shortly thereafter they heard cries for help from the sea. A lifeboat was lowered and 3 men were rescued from the raging water by the 2nd mate and 4 able seamen and hauled aboard Carl Oftedal, then the boat continued searching for more. They were survivors from an American warship caught in the storm. The next morning two destroyers were notified and more survivors were found. Commander of the 7th fleet on Okinawa personally thanked captain Pedersen for what he had done. The number of men saved was not great, but the fact that Carl Oftedal, in spite of her dangerous cargo had been the only ship out of the 50 that even tried to help the shipwrecked men, caught the commander's special attention.

POST WAR:

Purchased by Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab, taken over in Norfolk, VA on Oct. 10-1946, renamed Brant County in Antwerp Jan. 22-1947 and placed in the County Line after having been rebuilt (passenger cabins added). Renamed Matang in 1954 (Halvorsen Shipping Co, Bergen - delivered Nov. 27-1954), became German Hedwigshütte in May-1956 (Hedwigshütte Kohlen & Kokswerke AG, Hamburg), Greek Saronis in 1960 (Morania Cia Naviera SA, Piræus - A. Lusi Ltd, London, later shipbrokers J. C. Carras & Sons Ltd., London, 1965). Broken up in Taiwan in 1968, having arrived Kaohsiung on Nov. 12-1967.

Related external links:
Liberty Ships - George N. Drake is listed on this page.

See also:
List of Liberty Ships by Hull No. - Includes info on the men for whom the ships were named (from Wikipedia).

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The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Bergenske, byen og selskapet", Dag Bakka Jr", Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Liberty Ships in Peacetime, and their Contribution to World Shipping History", I. G. Steward.