M/S Fernbrook
Updated June 11-2009

To Fernbrook on the "Ships starting with F" page.


Source: Received from R. W. Jordan (his own collection).


This one was received from Historical Department, MAN B&W Diesel, Copenhagen
(probably at trials - larger, better quality version of pic is available)

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

Voyage Record From Apr.-1940 to July-1945:

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Errors may exist, and some voyages are missing.

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1940	Apr. 5	Wanganui	Nauru	Apr. 17	Independent	–
	Apr. 20	Nauru	Melbourne	Apr. 30	Independent	–
	May 7	Melbourne	Adelaide	May 8	Independent	–
	May 18	Adelaide	Capetown	June 8*	Independent	*See Page 1
	June 21	Capetown	Freetown	July 3	Independent	–
	July 4	Freetown	Liverpool	July 21	SL 38F	Convoy available at SL/MKS convoys (external link)
	Aug. 6	Liverpool	–	–	OB 194	Dispersed 54 36N 18 02W, Aug. 10. Convoy available at OB convoys (external link)
	Aug. 10	Dispersed from OB 194	Tampa	Aug. 23	Independent	–
	Aug. 25	Tampa	Houston	Aug. 27	Independent	–
	Sept. 1	Houston	New Orleans	Sept. 3	Independent	See also Page 1
	Sept. 3	New Orleans	Cristobal	Sept. 10	Independent	Then Pacific trade to June 4-1941 Missing voyages, Page 1 above
1941	May 28	Cristobal	Baltimore	June 4	Independent	–
	June 10	Baltimore	Boston	June 12	Independent	–
	June 19	Boston	New York City	June 21	Independent	–
	Sept. 5	New York City	Capetown	Oct. 4	Independent	–
	Oct. 13	Capetown	Aden	Oct. 29	Independent	–
	Nov. 1	Aden	Suez	Nov. 7	Independent	–
	Nov. 9	Port Said	Alexandria	Nov. 10	Independent	–
	Nov. 22	Alexandria	Port Said	Nov. 23	Independent	–
	Dec. 4	Port Said	Alexandria	Dec. 5	Independent	–
	Dec. 17	Alexandria	Port Said	Dec. 18	Independent	See also Page 2
	Dec. 22	Suez	Aden	Dec. 27	Independent	–
	Dec. 28	Aden	Capetown	Jan. 11-1942	Independent	–
1942	Jan. 14	Capetown	New York City	Febr. 10	Independent	–
	Febr. 19	New York City	Philadelphia	Febr. 20	Independent	–
	Febr. 26	Philadelphia	New York City	Febr. 27	Independent	–
	Apr. 23	New York City	New York City	Apr. 23	Independent	Put back
	Apr. 25	New York City	New York City	Apr. 27	Independent	Put back
	May 1	New York City	Capetown	May 30	Independent	–
	June 15	Capetown	Aden	July 1	Independent	–
	July 1	Aden	Massawa	July 4	Independent	–
	July 4	Massawa	Assab	July 4	Independent	–
	July 5	Assab	Massawa	July 6	Independent	–
	July 10	Massawa	Suez	July 13	Independent	–
	Aug. 4	Suez	Aden	Aug. 8	Independent	–
	Aug. 15	Aden	Port Elizabeth	Aug. 30	Independent	–
	Sept. 3	Port Elizabeth	Capetown	Sept. 5	Independent	–
	Sept. 7	Capetown	Takoradi	Sept. 17	Independent	–
	Oct. 16	Takoradi	Freetown	Oct. 22*	TS 22	Convoy available at TS 22 (external link) *See Page 2
	Oct. 27	Freetown	–	–	FTT 1	Detached Nov. 10. Convoy available at FTT 1 (external link)
	Nov. 10	Detached from FTT 1	Charleston, SC	Nov. 15	Independent	–
	Nov. 15	Charleston, SC	New York City	Nov. 22	Independent	–
	Dec. 18	New York City	Gitmo	Dec. 25	NG 330	For Cristobal. Convoy available at NG convoys (external link)
	Dec. 26	Gitmo	Cristobal	Dec. 29	GZ 17	Convoy available at GZ convoys (external link)
	Dec. 31	Balboa	Durban	Febr. 5-1943	Independent	–
1943	Febr. 6	Durban	–	–	DN 15	Dispersed Febr. 8. Convoy available at DN 15 (external link)
	Febr. 8	Dispersed from DN 15	Aden	Febr. 22	Independent	–
	Febr. 22	Aden	Port Sudan	Febr. 24	Independent	–
	Febr. 24	Port Sudan	Suez	Febr. 28	Independent	–
	March 31	Port Said	Haifa	Apr. 1	Independent	See also Page 2 (missing voyages)
	Apr. 5	Haifa	Famagusta	Apr. 6	Independent	–
	Apr. 21	Famagusta	Iskenderun	Apr. 21	Independent	–
	May 15	Iskenderun	Haifa	May 16	Independent	–
	May 17	Haifa	Port Said	May 18	Independent	–
	May 21	Suez	Aden	May 26	Independent	–
	May 26	Aden	Fremantle	–	Independent	See also Page 3
	June 17	Fremantle	Balboa	July 26	Independent	–
	Aug. 2	Cristobal	Gitmo	Aug. 6	ZG 39	Convoy available at ZG convoys (external link)
	Aug. 7	Gitmo	Baltimore	Aug. 14	GN 76	Convoy available at GN convoys (external link)
	Aug. 20	Baltimore	New York City	Aug. 21	Independent	–
	Sept. 12	New York City	Hampton Roads	Sept. 14	Independent	–
	Sept. 15	Hampton Roads	Port Said	Oct. 13	UGS 18	For Port Said. Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link) See also narrative below
	Oct. 14	Port Said	Suez	Oct. 15	Independent	Hit Suez Canal bank, needs repairs
1944	Jan. 30	Suez	Port Said	Jan. 31	Independent	On completion of collision repairs
	Febr. 2	Port Said	Beirut	Febr. 3	Independent	–
	Febr. 10	Beirut	Famagusta	Febr. 11	Independent	–
	Febr. 14	Famagusta	Famagusta	Febr. 23	Independent	Voyage data unknown
	Febr. 24	Famagusta	Alexandria	Febr. 25	Independent	Via Haifa (see Page 3)
	March 6	Alexandria	New York City	Apr. 3	GUS 33	Alexandria to U.S.A.
	Apr. 23	Hampton Roads	Port Said	May 19	UGS 40	For Port Said. Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link) See also narrative below
	May 30	Port Said	Haifa	–	Independent	–
	May 31	Haifa	Famagusta	June 1	Independent	–
	June 4	Famagusta	Iskenderun	June 5	Independent	–
	June 8	Iskenderun	Mersin	June 9	Independent	–
	June 16	Mersin	Port Said	June 21	Independent	–
	June 24	Port Said	Baltimore	July 19	GUS 44	Port Said to U.S.A.
	July 26	Baltimore	New York City	July 27	Independent	–
	Aug. 10	New York City	Hampton Roads	–	Independent	–
	Aug. 13	Hampton Roads	Port Said	Sept. 8	UGS 51	Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link)
	Sept. 22	Port Said	Iskenderun	Sept. 24	Independent	–
	Oct. 2	Iskenderun	Famagusta	Oct. 3	Independent	–
	Oct. 5	Famagusta	Mersin	Oct. 10	Independent	See also Page 3
	Oct. 18	Mersin	Port Said	Oct. 20	Independent	–
	Oct. 22	Port Said	New York City*	Nov. 18	GUS 56	Port Said to U.S.A. *Should be Baltimore. Convoy available at GUS convoys (external link)
	Nov. 30	Baltimore	New York City	Dec. 2	Independent	–
	Dec. 18	New York City	Passed Gibraltar	Jan. 4-1945	UGS 64	Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link)
1945	Jan. 4	Passed Gibraltar	Port Said	Jan. 12	Independent	–
	Jan. 20	Port Said	Iskenderun	Jan. 22	Independent	–
	Febr. 4	Iskenderun	Mersin	Febr. 4	Independent	–
	Febr. 15	Mersin	Port Said	Febr. 16	Independent	–
	Febr. 16	Port Said	Oran	Febr. 23	Independent	–
	Febr. 26	Oran	Baltimore	March 16	GUS 74	Convoy available at GUS convoys (external link)
	Apr. 16	Baltimore	New York City	Apr. 17	Independent	–
	Apr. 27	New York City	–	–	UGS 89	Dispersed May 12. Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link)
	May 12	Dispersed from UGS 89	Port Said	May 19	Independent	–
	May 25	Port Said	Alexandria	May 26	Independent	–
	June 1	Alexandria	Iskenderun	June 3	Independent	–
	June 23	Mersin(?)	Port Said	June 24	Independent	–
	June 25	Port Said	Baltimore	July 15	Independent	Further voyages, Page 4

Some Convoy Voyages:

For voyages made in between those discussed here, please see the documents received from the National Archives of Norway as well as Hague's Voyage Record above. Follow the convoy links provided for more details on them - other Norwegian ships also took part.

As can be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Fernbrook was en route from Wanganui to Nauru when Norway was invaded on Apr. 9-1940.

That summer, she's listed in Convoy SLF 38, which left Freetown for the U.K. on July 4-1940. This convoy is available via the external link provided at the end of this page; Olaf Fostenes was also scheduled, but did not sail. The following month, Fernbrook joined Convoy OB 194, which left Liverpool on Aug. 6 and also included Balla, Beth, Granli, and Madrono. Fernbrook arrived Tampa independently on Aug. 23, the convoy having been dispersed on the 10th.

On Oct. 4-1943, 7 aircraft came in over the convoy in which Fernbrook was sailing but were met by fierce fire from the ships (this was probably UGS 18, in which she's listed, having departed Hampton Roads on Sept. 15, arrived Port Said Oct. 13 - ref. external link at end of this page). Several more attacks followed that evening and bombs were dropped, one of which landed in the water near Fernbrook, causing her starboard engine to stop and some damages in the engine room, leading those who were present there to think she had received a direct hit. At about the same time a powerful explosion was heard, followed by a splash causing a tall column of oil-mixed water above the ship, before numerous aircraft parts landed on her deck. About half an hour later another 3 aircraft appeared, again met by fire from the ships and 2 were believed to have been shot down. According to the gunners' report 1010 projectiles were fired from Fernbrook that day, no one was injured in the incident.

In March-1944, I have her in Convoy GUS 33. This convoy, which had a number of Norwegian ships, departed Port Said on March 5-1944 and arrived Hampton Roads on Apr. 4, but many ships had other destinations and left the convoy, while others joined along the way. In fact, Fernbrook joined from Alexandria on March 6 (arrived New York Apr. 3).

German bombers were a serious threat to allied shipping in the Mediterranean from the new year of 1944, because about 100 modern bombers were stationed in the South of France, their primary goal being the large UGS convoys from U.S.A., carrying supplies to the allied forces in Italy. Fernbrook was in Convoy UGS 40 for Port Said (station 54), consisting of 77 ships ("Nortraships flåte" says 65 ships), 17 escort vessels as well as the British cruiser Caledon. The convoy was attacked by a total of 62 aircraft off Cape Bengut in the evening of May 11-1944. The attack lasted for 40 minutes, no ships were hit, 19 planes are said to have crashed in the sea, giving a convincing example of how important and useful it was to have decent armament on the merchant ships. According to a gunner's report from Fernbrook, 1 aircraft fell in the water on her port side between ship No. 34 and 35, and another came down in flames near No. 74 and 75. Other Norwegian ships also sailed in UGS 40, which had departed Hampton Roads on Apr. 23-1944 and arrived Port Said on May 19. See the external links provided below.

Some of the gunners on Fernbrook at that time were:
Gunnery Officer Erling Bostad, Gunners Robert Werner Larsen, Edvard Aasmund Nilssen, Per Ottar Fjørtoft, Arne John Eriksen, Hermann Georg Venheim and Harry Busk Halvorsen.

The following month, Fernbrook is listed in Convoy GUS 44, which left Port Said on June 24, arriving Hampton Roads on July 18. Several ships joined along the way, while others parted company, but Fernbrook went all the way to the U.S., arriving Baltimore on July 19.

POST WAR:

Sold in 1959 to Santilana Compania Naviera SA, Panama, and renamed Kalamai (Greek flag). Transferred to MA Karageorgis, Piraeus in 1960. While at Alexandria on Jan. 20-1965, having arrived from Hamina, Finland, with a cargo of sugar, steel bars and timber, she caught fire in the engine room and was scuttled. Later refloated and on Sept. 22-1965 berthed at Alexandria and condemned. Sold to Poul Christensen, Nakskov, Denmark, to be resold for breaking up. On Jan. 4-1967 she left Alexandria in tow for Piraeus, and arrived there on Jan. 11. Sold to Brodospas, for breaking up at Split, Yugoslavia.

Related external links:
SL Convoys - Fernbrook is listed in SLF 38. The site also has information on Convoy OB 194, and the UGS convoys mentioned above, among several other series.

Ships in UGS 40, including escorts (incomplete listing). A section of the Encyclopedia of WW 2 Naval Battles.

Astrup Fearnley - The Fearnley company today

Back to Fernbrook on the "Ships starting with F" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Tilbakeblikk", E-mails from R. W. Jordan (post war info) and misc. - ref. My sources.