D/S Gro
Updated Oct. 31-2008

To Gro on the "Ships starting with G" page.

Crew List

A picture of this ship is available at Uboat.net (external link).

Final Fate - 1940:

D/S Gro had loaded over 6000 tons wheat in Montreal for Manchester, U.K., then arrived Sydney, C.B. on Aug. 1-1940 for convoy. On Aug. 15 they received orders for degaussing, which was subsequently installed at the Sydney Foundry and Engineering Works, completed on Aug. 24. She joined the slow Convoy SC 2 which departed Sydney on Aug. 25. This convoy sailed in 9 columns with Gro in station No. 83. The Germans had desiphered the British sailing codes for this convoy by Aug. 30, and knew exactly where it was to meet the escort from the U.K., so 3 U-boats were sent to attack, reaching the meeting place shortly after the escort had formed around the convoy.

After 2 British ships had been torpedoed in the early morning hours of Sept. 7 (Neptunian and José de Larrinaga) the convoy adopted a zig-zag course in an effort to shake off the attackers, but Gro received a torpedo on the port side* amidships from U-47 (Prien) at about 02:00 in position 58 30N 16 10W (northwest of Rockall). The boilers exploded and hot steam gushed out. She broke in two and started to sink right away, 10 minutes later she was gone.

21 men, including the captain had gotten away in the port lifeboat (the starboard motorboat was blown to pieces), 11 were missing, 8 of whom had been in the engine room, stoke hold or coal bunkers. Just before Gro had broken in 2 the men in the boat had seen 2 shadows move on the lower bridge, but could do nothing to investigate when she sank shortly thereafter. After a while 2 lights were seen on the water, assumed to be coming from one of the rafts or the gig, but in the gale force wind and high seas they were unable to row in that direction and the lights soon disappeared. (One of the rafts from Gro with 2 bodies tied to it was found on the ocean on Sept. 27 by HMS Periwinkle. This raft had belonged on the lower bridge. The dead men were the 2nd mate and possibly the messboy or the 3rd mate).

Galley Boy H. Sørensen, who had been standing on the grating over the engine at the time of the explosion had been badly burnt all over his body by the steam pouring out. He was covered up and taken care of as best they could. At dawn the survivors set sail in an easterly direction. The hood was put up on the boat and this provided some shelter against the cold wind. The boat also had a warm coat and oilskins for each of them as well as water, bread, butter and canned food.

On Sept. 10 they spotted a ship and tried to cross its course so that they would be seen. By 19:00 they had all been picked up by the English D/S Burdwan (Captain C. R. Mill) in 56 25N 09 35W and given the best of care. The injured galley boy as well as some of the others, who had taken ill from sitting in the boat in wet clothes for 89 hours were given medical treatment. As this ship was headed for Capetown they were transferred to HMS Arabis on Sept 11 (escorting a Liverpool bound convoy) and were landed in Liverpool in the evening of the13th. The galley boy, stoker O. Moy and the cook were taken to a hospital, while the others were accommodated at various locations.

*British records say Gro was hit amidships on the starboard side, not the port side as stated in Captain Brun's report. This perhaps makes more sense, since the starboard boat was blown to pieces and the survivors got away in the undamaged port boat. Captain Brun also states that the men who had been on the starboard side amidships when the torpedo hit perished in the explosion.

Måkefjell (also in Convoy SC 2), captain Øywind Meitzner, reported having collided with a German U-boat northwest of Ireland on Sept. 9, parallelled by Prien's own report that he was almost hit by a cargo ship in this convoy.

Crew List:

Survivors:
Captain Paul Brun	1st Mate Ingvald Dalhaug	Radio Operator Arnulf Westad	Boatswain Bernt Brandal	Able Seaman Lars Rimstad	Able Seaman Johannes Furdal
Able Seaman Odd Gjerde	Able Seaman Arthur B. Johannessen	Able Seaman Magnus Isdahl	Able Seaman William Bye	Ordinary Seaman Aksel Olsen	Jr. Ordinary Seaman Einar Johnsen
Deck Boy Arild Storstad	1st Engineer Martin Tumyr	2nd engineer Odd Tumyr	Stoker Martin Øren	Stoker Oskar Moy	Stoker Viktor Andresen
Steward Wilhelm Wilhelmsen	Cook Haakon Engh	Galley Boy Herolf Sørensen
Casualties:
† 2nd Mate Johan Myklebust	† 3rd Mate Olaf Monsen	† 3rd Engineer Gerhardt Eltervaag	† Donkeyman Johan Svåsand	† Stoker Otto Fugledal	† Stoker Odd Tjosås
† Stoker Kjell Anker Nilsen	† Trimmer Nils L. Skaare	† Trimmer Sverre Jørgensen	† Trimmer Einar Larsen	† Mess Boy Anbjørn Astad

Related external links:
Stavern Memorial commemorations

U-47 | Günther Prien

Royal Navy and WW II

Back to Gro on the "Ships starting with G" page.

Norway (Biørn Biørnstad & Co.) had also lost a ship by this name to WW I, originally delivered in Jan- 1895 as Alagonia to owners in Liverpool, built in Port Glasgow, 2667 gt. Had misc. British owners until 1903, when she was renamed Ros for owners in Stockholm, Sweden. Sold in Febr.-1916 to D/S A/S Avenir (Biørn Biørnstad & Co.), Oslo and renamed Gro - torpedoed and sunk by UC 47 off Start Point on Aug. 22-1917, voyage Glasgow-Rouen with coal.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Hjemmeflåten - mellom venn og fiende", Luritz Pettersen, "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum) and misc. for cross checking details - (ref. My sources).