M/S General Fleischer

To General Fleischer on the "Ships starting with G" page.

Misc. War Voyages:

According to a personal story I have found General Fleischer sailed to New Orleans on her first voyage under the Norwegian flag. With a cargo for Russia she was sent alone through the Panama Canal, around South America to the South Atlantic and Pacific to south Africa, then to Basra. She suffered some damages when encountering a storm near Cape Horn. Later, she returned to Philadelphia where her engines were overhauled before taking in a new cargo of ammunition for Egypt, a voyage taking 60 days. On her next trip she had a cargo of gas and other materials for the American army in the Pacific, and the engineers had to wear gasmasks in the engine room. This cargo was distributed on various islands, before they headed for San Francisco and took on cargo for Australia, then went with supplies from there to New Zealand and various islands in the Pacific, back to San Pedro and San Francisco, then on to Guadalcanal carrying floating quay installations. The 3rd engineer on General Fleischer at this time (the author of this story) was Kristian Willumsen, who had previously served on Mosli, Thermopylæ and Trafalgar, and later joined Rio Verde and Skandinavia. (Please keep in mind that some details in these personal stories may be incorrect, as they were often written many years after the war).

Note that the last external website that I've linked to at the end of this page has included General Fleischer in Convoy GUS 11, which departed Alexandria on July 28-1943 and arrived Hampton Roads on Aug. 26. The Norwegian Falkefjell, Garonne, and Thorsholm are also listed - follow the link provided.

The Americans had landed at Leyte Gulf on the Philippines on Oct. 19-1944. From day one Japanese aircraft attacked the forces and the accompanying convoys. The first Kamikaze suicide attack occurred on Oct. 21, with the Australian cruiser Australia its victim. General Fleischer was in a convoy which arrived Leyte Gulf on Oct. 24, and was immediately attacked, but escaped injury and anchored up off Tacloban, the northernmost bridgehead.

That night, in the Straits of Suriga and off the coast of Samar, American and Japanese battle ships fought one of the biggest sea battles in history. Several bombers flew in over Tacloban the next morning, one of them got a direct hit from General Fleischer, before it was shot down by American destroyers. General Fleischer now moved to Dulag, another bridgehead 12 n. miles further out. She was under attack that same afternoon, and for several days thereafter. Many planes were shot down, by General Fleischer as well as other ships.

On Nov. 12 the Kamikaze's arrived, hitting several ships in the area, some were shot down before they could do any damage. Two of General Fleischer's crew and two soldiers on board (gunners?) were injured. The following week was fairly quiet and General Fleischer went back to Tacloban to unload her cargo, but on the 19th the Kamikaze planes returned in full force, one hit General Fleischer but miraculously nobody was hurt. (Another hit the American ship Alcoa Pioneer, killing 6 gunners, injuring 13 crew. Yet another hit the American Cape Romano, no casualties). The attacks continued until Nov. 28.

General Fleischer left on Dec. 4 and was back in San Francisco on Jan. 4-1945. Her crew had experienced 203 air raids, had seen 48 enemy planes shot down, had themselves fired 151 shots with their 3" gun and 5500 with the 7 Oerlikons.

The gunners on board at that time deserve to be named: Adolf B. Ramstad, Modulf K. Tollefsen, Gunvald K. Hoveland, Lars O. Olsen, Ivar A. Røsstad, Åge Lander, Arthur B. Mikalsen, Thorvald Grimstad, Edward Edwardsen, Knut Knutsen, Finn Samuelsen, L. Jacobsen, Ivar Fjellbo, E. Beckstrøm and Egil Holmberg. Gunnery Officer was H. Aursland.

The Norwegian ship M/S Torrens arrived Leyte just a couple of days after General Fleischer had left, and endured much the same nightmare.

As will be seen when following the instructions provided at the last external link below, General Fleischer is listed, together with the Norwegian Stiklestad, in Convoy UGS 76 the following month. This convoy had originated at Hampton Roads on Febr. 22-1945 and arrived Gibraltar on March 10. General Fleischer, however, is said to have joined this convoy from Oran and was bound for Toulon. At the end of March she shows up, with no voyage information, in Convoy GUS 80, going in the other direction (departure Oran March 28-1945, arrival Hampton Roads Apr. 13). Fernplant and Vardefjell are also included. The same site also has her in Convoy UGS 91, which departed Hampton Roads on May 8-1945 and dispersed on the 23rd.

For more information on all the other Norwegian ships mentioned on this page, please see the alphabet index below, or go to the Master Ship Index.

POST WAR:

General Fleischer was in a collision with the Brazilian Ayuruoca (ex Roland till 1917) on June 10-1945 (the Brazilian ship sank). Purchased by Wilh. Wilhelmsen on Oct. 20-1946 and renamed Tortugas. Sold to Philippine President Lines Inc., Philippine Islands on May 16-1967 and renamed Emilio Aguinaldo, later that year renamed President Laurel. Renamed Lucky Nine in 1975. Sold on Apr. 28-1975 to Barracuda Shipping Inc. (Gulf Shipping Lines Ltd., managers), Somali Republic. Arrived at Kaohsiung on Sept. 20-1975 and on Sept. 26 she was delivered to Nan Feng Steel Enterprise Co. Ltd. for scrapping.

Exernal links related to the text on this page:
HMAS Australia - Against the "Divine Wind", Kamikaze.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf

Misc Convoys - By clicking on "Ship Search", using "General Fleischer" as keywords, some convoys will come up, namely GUS 11, UGS 76, GUS 80, and UGS 91, all mentioned in my text above.

Back to General Fleischer on the "Ships starting with G" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, Wilh. Wilhelmsen's fleet list, "Krigsseileren", Issue No. 2 for 1974, "Tilbakeblikk" and misc. (ref. My sources).