Eglantine - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

5 British built, Flower class corvettes were taken over by the Norwegian Navy in Gt. Britain. They were Montbretia, Eglantine, Acanthus and Rose in 1941, and Potentilla in Jan.-1942. The Norwegian navy was to be responsible for supplying the crews, their salary, food and uniforms, while other expenses were to be paid by Royal Navy. They were used as escorts in the North Atlantic and carried out over 80 attacks against U-boats. When Potentilla was returned to Royal Navy in March of 1944, she was replaced by a Castle class corvette, which was named Tunsberg Castle under the Norwegian flag. Buttercup, also Flower class, was transferred after the loss of Tunsberg Castle in 1944. See individual links for details on each corvette.

Misc. War Details:

Eglantine and Montbretia were part of the escort for Convoy HX 156 in Oct.-1941. They also escorted the westbound Convoy ON 36 the following month.

In Aug.-1942, Eglantine escorted the westbound Convoy ON 122, together with the British destroyer Viscount, and the 3 Norwegian corvettes Potentilla, Montbretia, and Acanthus.

Eglantine, Potentilla, Montbretia and Acanthus are also listed as escorts for Convoy HX 205, which left Halifax at the end of August and arrived Liverpool on Sept. 11-1942. I'm not sure exactly when they joined, but for info, according to Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System", the westbound ON 122 had been dispersed on Sept. 3, and according to the Commodore's notes for HX 205 "Escort was met at 09:00 on Sept 2 in 46 46N 51 10W", presumably referring to the ocean escort?

Eglantine also escorted SC 104 (Oct.-1942) and ONS 144 (Nov.-1942), follow the links above to Potentilla and Montbretia for details on the passage of these convoys. (The correct term for the latter convoy should be ON 144, as the true ONS series was not established until 1943, starting with ONS 1, but the slower ON convoys were often referred to as ONS in signals and contemporary documents even before that year).

Eglantine, Potentilla, and Rose can also be found among the escorts for the New York-U.K. Convoy HX 217, joining the convoy in the morning of Dec. 5-1942. Later that month we find her mentioned among the escorts for the westbound Convoy ON 155, together with Acanthus, and the 2 of them show up again in the westbound Convoy ON 165 in Febr.-1943.

In Nov.-1943 Eglantine was among the escorts for Convoy RA 54A, which left Kola on Nov. 1 and arrived Loch Ewe on the 14th. She had previously arrived in North Russia at the end of Oct. when "Operation FR" took place (this was a passage of escorts to Russia in order to bring back merchant ships that had remained there after the suspension of the Arctic convoys that spring). She subsequently went on to escort the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 212 at the end of Nov., as did Rose and Potentilla. The only Norwegian ships in ON 212 were Villanger, Vav, Spinanger and Fjordaas.

A year later, in Nov.-1944, she escorted convoy JW 62, which left Loch Ewe on Nov. 29 and arrived Kola Inlet on Dec. 7-1944 (available at the first external link at the end of this page, as is info on "Operation FR"). She then went on to escort the returning Convoy RA 62 (see also Tunsberg Castle).

POST WAR:

Jan-Olof, Sweden has told me that according to Lenton & Colledge Eglantine became mercantile Sørøy in 1947. I've also seen statements on several websites, that she was in fact renamed Sørøy as early as 1941, but this is incorrect, she did not get that name until Aug.-1946. According to a posting to my Ship Forum she was handed over to the Norwegian Navy in Aug.-1941 (on a lease basis) then purchased by same in 1946, pennant F308. Became Thor Dahl's whale catcher Thorglimt in 1957 (broken up in Grimstad in 1969). Axel Kuehn, the poster of this message adds that the 1946 sale might have been reported erroneously as a civilian sale (which might explain Lenton & Colledge's entries). See my query which has several responses. There's also this reply to my separate query on Eglantine. This one might also be of interest. Atle Wilmar, Norway has given me the following dates:
Came under Norwegian command in Belfast on Aug. 14-1941, "ready for war" Oct. 1-1941. After the war was over in Norway she sailed to Norway in May-1945, purchased in 1946, and renamed Sørøy on Aug. 10-1946.

Related external links:
Russian Convoys

HNoMS Eglantine
SC-104, 12 - 16 Oct 1942
ONS-144, 15 - 21 Nov 1942

Group Wotan and the Battle for Convoy SC 104 - Article with a very detailed description of the convoy battle (a section of Rob Fisher's Home Page).

Convoy ONS 144 - Names the ships involved on all sides (from the website "Encyclopedia of WW II Naval Battles"). This website lists Eglantine as Soroy.