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D/S Helle To Helle on the "Ships starting with H" page. Owner: Rederi A/S Henneseid Built by Pusey & Jones Co., Wilmington, Delaware in 1918. Launched as War Nurse, completed as Piqua for US Shipping Board, Wilmington until 1920, Marconier until 1929 (Lloyd Royal Belge S.A, Antwerp), Ganda until 1932 (La Maritime Gantoise S.A, Ghent). Sold in 1932 to Rederi A/S Henneseid (Thoralf Holta), Porsgrunn and renamed Helle. Captain: Karl Jørgensen
Helle is mentioned in connection with Convoy HN 10 from Norway to the U.K. in Febr.-1940, but is crossed out, which probably means she did not sail. At the end of March-1940, shortly before the German invasion of Norway, we find her in Convoy HN 22, bound for Manchester with timber - follow the links for more info; several Norwegian ships took part in both these convoys. She's listed among the ships in Convoy HX 70, which left Halifax on Sept. 1-1940. She was bound for Barrow with a cargo of pulp wood, and sailed in station 42 of the convoy. The following month she shows up in Convoy OB 227, which left Liverpool on Oct. 11 and dispersed on the 15th. Her destination on that occasion is given as Sydney, C.B., station 74. More info on the latter convoy is available at the first external website that I've linked to below. She returned to the U.K. in Nov. with Convoy HX 87, carrying pulp and steel for Manchester. She had originally belonged to the Sydney (C.B.) portion of Convoy HX 88, but got parted from the convoy in fog, and joined up with HX 87 at 10:00 on Nov. 17 - again, follow the links for more convoy details. As can be seen she was in the company of several other Norwegian ships in these convoys. Related external links: See also this
Torpedoed by U-98, (Gysae) on April 3-1941, position 59 00N 24 30W*. She had originally been in Convoy SC 26 which had been attacked on Apr. 2, and after 6 merchant ships had gone down by the next morning, and the only escort, the British cruiser Worchestershire had been damaged by a torpedo, the Commodore had ordered the convoy to disperse (this according to journal excerpt - dispersal not mentioned in other sources). D/S Nea, which had also been in the convoy made it safely to Iceland, but U-boats caught up with 4 ships, which were all torpedoed and sunk. (Helle had been cancelled from the previous convoy, SC 25). Helle, with a cargo of 350 tons steel and 2600 tons wood pulp for London was hit on the starboard side in the after part of No. 2 hatch at 21:30 GMT, Apr. 3, but stayed afloat for an hour. The captain and radio operator remained on board for 20 minutes while the crew took to the boats. After SOS had been sent the entire crew got into the port lifeboat as the starboard boat was leaking. They were rescued the next morning by the destroyer Havelock, which had been notified of her situation by the radio station at Resolution Island after Helle's distress signals had been received. The survivors were landed in Liverpool in the afternoon of Apr. 8, where the maritime hearings were held on Apr. 17, with the captain, the 1st mate, the 1st engineer, Ordinary Seaman Olsen (lookout), and Ordinary Seaman Hansen (helmsman) appearing.
The following ships were sunk before Helle was torpedoed:
Related external links: Back to Helle on the "Ships starting with H" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum) and misc. (ref. My sources).
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