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D/S Grado To Grado on the "Ships starting with G" page.
Owner: D/S A/S Iris Built by E. Finch & Co. Ltd., Chepstow, Monmouthshire, delivered as War Forest in Dec.-1918 to the Shipping Controller (Morel Ltd). Renamed Abergallus for Soc. Maritime et Commerciale du Pacifique, Bordeaux in 1920, Thermidor for Cie Nationale de Nav., Bordeaux in 1925, Andreas Gerakis for N. Gerakis, Cephalonia in 1926, Louis Mercier for Union Miniere et Maritime, Rouen in 1927. Owned in 1930 by Union Industrielle et Maritime, Bordeaux. Sold in 1937 to D/S A/S Iris (Hans Fr. Grann), Oslo and renamed Grado. One of several Norwegian ships affected by the Spanish civil war when she was forced to go to Ceuta in June-1938 and was kept there for 3 weeks. Captain WW II: Theodor Jensen. In the book "Englandsfarten" there's mention of a captain by this name, and I'm wondering if it might be the same person. It gives the story of a sail boat that departed Arendal on July 14-1940 with 4 people on board, all of whom were officers in the Merchant Marine, namely Captain Theodor Jensen, Captain Jens Lassen Ugland, Engineer Olav Andersen, and Captain Reidar Ytterlid. They had been given permission by German authorities to sail as far as Farsund for "a little vacation", which they also did, but after a few days they took off one night and headed for England. They encountered terrible weather and ended up drifting, but were observed by a British submarine which picked them up. Being as the sub was on a mission on the Norwegian coast the 4 went back towards Norway on board (the sub torpedoed a ship near Egersund). At the end of July the 4 officers were landed in Newcastle. They had been aided by a resistance group in Arendal and had with them the code books for a radio station. 5 members of the resistance group were arrested after this, initially sentenced to death, but this was later changed to 10 years in the penitentiary. Several others involved also had to serve time in the penitentiary. (Jens Lassen Ugland later became captain of Mosfruit and Christian Michelsen). My Norwegian Guestbook has a message from the grandson of Kristen Johansen, who served as 3rd mate on Grado from 1937 until Jan.-1940 (previously 2nd mate on Vigo).
Grado is mentioned among the ships in Convoy HN 9A from Norway to the U.K. in Jan.-1940, but there's some doubt as to whether she actually sailed in this convoy. As will be seen by clicking on the link, several Norwegian ships took part. In July that same year we find her in Convoy OA 184, which departed Methil on July 14-1940 and dispersed on the 18th. Her destination is not given, but she had station 13 of the convoy. The Norwegian Cetus is also listed - see the external links below. Grado, bound for Hull with a cargo of pit props, is listed in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 66 in Aug.-1940, in which the Norwegian Norne was sunk. It looks like Grado joined this convoy from Sydney, C.B., taking station 14 in the HX convoy, while Norne joined from Bermuda - follow link for more convoy details. In Febr.-1941 she sailed in the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 22, bound for Hull with pit props, and that summer, in June-1941, she's listed in Convoy SC 33, cargo of phosphates for Aberdeen, having previously been cancelled from the faster HX 129. At the end of Dec. that year she was scheduled for the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 62, but instead joined SC 63 about a week later (Jan.-1942), cargo of steel and wood pulp for Glasgow. In May-1942, she was scheduled for Convoy SC 84 from Halifax, but cancelled and joined the next convoy, SC 85, cargo of wood pulp for London. In Aug. that year she can be found in Convoy SC 98 together with a great number of other Norwegian ships. In the spring of 1943 she's listed as bound for Halifax with the first convoy in the ONS series, Convoy ONS 1, which left Clyde on March 16-1943. This convoy, which had several Norwegian ships, will be added to my Convoys section in due course. Related external links:
Grado was in Convoy SC 129 when she was torpedoed and sunk in 40 30N 32 30W by U-402 (Forstner) on May 11-1943. She had a cargo of 1000 tons steel and 3000 tons lumber for Ipswich. The British ship Antigone, sailing in front of Grado had just been hit and the alarm was immediately sounded on Grado, whereupon the 4" gun aft was swung to port and the Oerlikon on the bridge manned by Ordinary Seaman Lawrence Garriock and the 1st mate. Shortly afterwards a periscope was seen on the port side. This disappeared when they opened fire from the bridge, but immediately thereafter a torpedo was seen coming her way, which hit her in the foreship, causing her to start sinking by the bow (Grado sank in about 50 minutes - "Nortraships flåte" gives the position as 40 30N 32 00 W). The port lifeboat had been somewhat damaged but was launched and manned with 8 men, while the starboard boat was lowered with 16 men. The raft on the foredeck was lost and the aft raft was jammed. After some difficulties the starboard motorboat was also launched with 12 men. About an hour later the 16 were picked up by the rescue ship Melrose Abbey and the rest by 2 escorting trawlers (the rescue vessel also saved the 43 survivors from Antigone). The captain and 15 men were landed in Glasgow on May 20 (presumably by Melrose Abby) where the captain was admitted to a hospital, having been injured in the explosion as he had been on the port side of the bridge when the torpedo struck. He had been pulled and carried to the lifeboat by the 1st mate. 20 of Grado's crew were landed in Belfast, then sent on to Glasgow, where maritime hearings were held on June 1-1943 with the 1st and 2nd mates and the 2nd engineer appearing (the captain was still in hospital). The Norwegian Grey County, James Hawson and M/T Vanja also sailed in this convoy, which had departed Halifax on May 2 and arrived Liverpool on the 21st.
Related external links: Back to Grado on the "Ships starting with G" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Englandsfarten", Volume II ('Søkelys mot Bergen') by Ragnar Ulsten, "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum). "The Allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague and misc. (ref. My sources).
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