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D/S Fana To Fana on the "Ships starting with F" page. Manager: Vilhelm Torkildsen, Bergen Built in Oslo 1939. Captain: Nic. Knudsen.
Fana, with paper and rosin for Bristol, is listed among the ships in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 37 in Apr./May-1940, sailing in station 35 of the convoy. She subsequently joined Convoy OB 151, departing Liverpool on May 19-1940. Her voyage information is given as Avonmouth-New Orleans, and she had station 34 of the convoy. Alaska, Stigstad, and Titanian are also listed. The external links provided below have more on the OB convoys. In June she headed in the other direction with Convoy HX 52, joining with the Bermuda portion, and in Aug. she's listed in Convoy HX 66, bound for Belfast and Hull with a cargo of pit props, joining the convoy from Sydney, N.S. Christmas that year was celebrated while in Convoy HX 96, bound for London with a cargo of lumber - Follow links for more convoy details, several Norwegian ships took part. She's mentioned as cancelled from Convoy OB 286 in Febr.-1941, voyage is given as Aultbea-Freetown. She must have made a voyage to Freetown somehow, because she's listed in Convoy SL 73, which departed Freetown on Apr. 27-1941 and arrived Liverpool on May 25. Please see the first external website that I've linked to below. Rescued 27 (21?) survivors from the torpedoed British ship S/S Dixcove in Sept.-1941, when in Convoy SL 87 from Freetown (convoy departed Sept. 4, arrived Liverpool Sept. 26 - Fana's destination was Oban). Captain Nic Knudsen says in an article that Fana had 4 survivors from the torpedoed Sildra on board on this voyage - follow link for more details. Also, Fana rescued about 50 men from a naval vessel in British waters (this might have been in connection with the incident recounted further down in this text?). Going back to the external website further down, Fana can be found in Convoy OS 10 on Oct. 25-1941 (station 12). However, she must have been cancelled, because she's also listed as being in the next convoy from Liverpool, OS 11. Other Norwegian ships taking part in OS 10 were Rio Verde, San Andres and Somerville, and in OS 11 were Dagrun, Danio, Elg and Tigre. Fana was on a voyage from Clyde to Freetown. Follow the mentioned link for more convoy details. The same website also lists Fana in Convoy OS 21 in March 1942, voyaging from Liverpool to Bathurst and Gambia with general cargo in station 34 of the convoy, along with several other Norwegian ships. The following month she returned to the U.K. with Convoy SL 107/SLF 107, which left Freetown on Apr. 16-1942 and arrived Liverpool on May. 7. Fana was in the slow section (SL); her destination is given as Loch Ewe, cargo of groundnuts, station 13 (the Norwegian Norfjell sailed in the fast section, SLF 107, which detached on May 4 and arrived Liverpool on May 6). Fana subsequently made a voyage to Halifax at the end of May, westbound Convoy ON 98*. A few months later, in Oct.-1942, she shows up in Convoy ON 136*, this time bound for New York. For several years I've suspected that Fana was in Convoy ON 154 in Dec.-1942. In an article in "Krigsseileren", Issue 4/1989 Captain Knudsen describes a voyage they took part in, and mentions that Norse King had disappeared one morning, and also says Ravnefjell was in the convoy. The captain's story, coupled with voyage descriptions found in the book "Ravnefjell", written by Mate/Radio Operator Peder Kr. Nilsen lead me to this tentative conclusion, and I am now able to confirm that both ships were indeed in this convoy - please scroll down to the list of ships in Convoy ON 154 posted on this page. I will add this convoy to its own individual page in due course, with the ships in their proper stations. See also the page about Ravnefjell for a summary. Arnold Hague says this convoy departed Liverpool on Dec. 18-1942 with 46 ships and arrived New York on Jan. 12-1943. Captain Knudsen says that the ships came from various ports to assemble north of Ireland on Dec. 19, with the U.S. bound vessels in ballast, while Fana and all the other ships in the port side column had cargoes for West Africa and were to leave the convoy at a certain point north of the Azores. Fana was the first ship in this column, bound for Bathurst. Captain Knudsen and Peder Kr. Nilsen both say the convoy was attacked on Christmas Eve, but other sources indicate the first attack took place on Dec. 27. (The links at the end of this text will describe the convoy battle and also give the names of all the ships sunk, so I won't go into that here). Knudsen describes how Fana after several U-boat attacks was the only vessel left in her column, and was in fact the only ship to reach West Africa, 38 days after departure U.K., delayed as a result of the constant attacks. The fact that Fana, according to the captain's article, was still present on the morning they discovered that Norse King had disappeared, indicates that Fana must have left the convoy some time after Dec. 29. After discharging her cargo in Bathurst she continued along the coast to Lagos, via Freetown, having about 150 native passengers on deck, and after having taken on board general cargo there she returned to Freetown, then back to Liverpool. My query to my Ship Forum with regard to Fana and Ravnefjell produced several responses, one of which said the following: There's a book about ON(S) 154 entitled "The convoy that nearly died" by Henry Revely. It's available from amazon.com.
External links related to the above text: See also this ON(S) 154 Memorials - Names of those lost from the ships in this convoy, incl. Norse King. This is a section of Battle of the Atlantic - Convoy ONS 154 - Barbara & Gordon Mumford's website which describes the battle in great detail.
Fana was in station 41 of the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ONS 5 in April-1943 - follow the link for more information. See also my page about Bonde, which was sunk in this convoy. She's also listed among the ships in Convoy SC 133 from Halifax in June-1943 - the Norwegian Tropic Star, Suderøy, Mui Hock and Borgholm also took part. Early in July she joined the westbound Convoy ONS 12 in order to travel to Boston (see this page). Later that year, in the fall of 1943, she was in a convoy with Belnor for Freetown with general cargo. Belnor and a British ship which was similarly built for heavy equipment had new patrol boats on their decks, and these boats were so wide they extended far beyond the sides of the ships. The danger from U-boats along the coast of Freetown had increased and these patrol boats would help protect the ships in this area. The ingenuity applied in unloading these boats, with the help of practical use of the ballast tanks and other methods did not go unnoticed among the naval authorities, who could put them into action immediately. (Captain Knudsen says that theft and robbery had become so bad in the ports along this coast that the area had to be fully lit). Fana departed for England with a cargo of groundnuts and again Belnor was part of the convoy, which stopped by Gibraltar and anchored up near Thorshøvdi which had been sunk by limpet mines in Aug., and was still partly visible above water (follow the link for more details). Due to the sabotage danger they were given TNT filled hand grenades by Navy Control. Knudsen says that when fishing vessels accumulated near the ship, causing general fear of acts of sabotage, it was often enough just to show the grenades and the vessels would remove themselves. There were also patrol boats which maneuvered in among the ships at anchor and dropped depth charges every 5 minutes, so the crew didn't get much sleep. On arrival Clyde Fana and Belnor were permitted to leave the convoy, with Fana proceeding to Greenock and Belnor to Adrossan. En route Fana passed an aircraft carrier engaged in aircraft exercises, and watched as 3 aircraft landed on the carrier. Suddenly a big explosion occurred and the next time they looked towards the carrier behind them all they could see was the bottom of the forepart and hundreds of people clinging to her hull and a rubber raft, before the carrier sank a few minutes later. Fana stopped, lowered her lifeboats as well as lines and nets and started to pick up survivors, a difficult task, smeared as they were with oil. But to their horror the surface of the water started to burn amongst the desperate swimmers, several of whom managed to reach Fana but one by one they died before they could be taken on board. Only 2 were still alive and were treated by a doctor who was a passenger on board, but they both died within 20 minutes. Fana's lifeboats managed to get clear of the burning surface and were able to transfer 37 survivors to a patrol boat which had arrived from shore. Some of the survivors had died in the lifeboat after having been given a cigarette, and Fana's rescuers were later told by the doctor, who had previously served in the U.S. Navy during battles in the Pacific, that he had had the same experiences with regard to giving cigarettes to survivors, they simply died. This was thought to be caused by them having inhaled the gasses resulting from the oil covered water while swimming in it, and a cigarette after that caused their heart to stop. After about half an hour no survivors were seen and Fana continued towards the pilotboat near Towards Point, about an hour away, where they met a number of vessels on their way to investigate the black smoke they had seen in the distance. People on Belnor had seen a U-boat nearby and assumed the aircraft carrier had been torpedoed, while the people on Fana believed the ship had struck a mine. Captain Knudsen was summoned to the naval authorities in Glasgow to give a report on the incident, but the name of the aircraft carrier was not revealed to him. A visitor to my site has suggested it might have been HMS Dasher. The date of her demise does not fit in with Captain Knudsen's story, since he says it took place towards the end of 1943, but it's possible, of course, that he remembers the sequence and dates of events incorrectly. Several years later, while in for repairs in England (on board another ship) one of the workers at the yard approached Captain Knudsen and asked him if he had been captain of Fana during the war. It turned out this man was one of the men they had saved. Fana was again involved in a rescue about half a year later, when on a voyage Havana-New York. An American aircraft drew their attention to a small rubber boat, and when they came near they discovered an injured pilot in the bottom of it. They took him on board, whereupon they were told by radio to head towards Key West where they were met by a frigate which put a doctor on board, and the pilot recovered. In the middle of Febr.-1945 we find Fana in the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 167, bound for West Hartlepool with lumber. Related external link:
Purchased by Fred. Olsen & Co. in 1947 and renamed Bergamo. Sold to John Bruce, Glasgow in 1949 and renamed Alpera. Related external link: To Fana on the "Ships starting with F" page. Other ships by this name: Norway had a motor vessel named Fana in the 1960's. This ship sailed as M/S Molda during the war. Also, Vilhelm Torkildsens Rederi, Bergen had another Fana delivered to them in Apr.-1950, 2459 gt. This ship was sold to Skibs-A/S Orion (Martin Bruusgaard), Oslo in the late fall of 1959 and renamed Nepos, then sold again a year later to Olaf Pedersens Rederi, Oslo and renamed Sunny Boy. Sold to China in 1961 and renamed Hong QI 154 - deleted in 1991. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Articles in the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren", "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland and misc. other.
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