M/S Herma - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

M/S Herma

To Herma on the "Ships starting with H" page.

Manager: Leif Erichsen, Bergen
Tonnage: 2406 gt

Delivered in June-1924 from Armstrong, Whithworth & Co. Ltd., Newcastle (998) as Beldis to Skibs-A/S Christen Smiths Rederi, Oslo. 2406 gt, 1284 net, 3440 tdwt, 294.1' x 45.3' x 19.1', 4 cyl. 2T single acting Armstrong, Whithworth-Sulzer, 1350 bhp. Under British flag from 1936 as Beldisa (Lambert Brothers Ltd., London). Sold to Leif Erichsens Rederi A/S (Leif Erichsen), Bergen in 1937 and renamed Herma.

Specially built for heavy lifting, like locomotives, railroad cars etc.

Misc. War Details:

This ship appears to have been plagued by engine problems. Her motors were reputed to have originally come from old submarines, one from an English sub, the other from a German, so that when the engines failed they would always wonder whether it was the "German" or the "Englishman" who were giving them trouble. Sometimes they both failed at once.

Rescued 91 survivors from the British S/S City of Winchester on May 19-1941, and landed them at Takoradi a week later. This ship had been torpedoed by U-103 On May 9, position 08 20N 26 14W. In the southern convoy routes outside Freetown it was common for merchant ships to be travelling alone at that time because of the lack of escort vessels. A group of German and Italian subs operated almost undisturbed in this area and sank no less than 30 ships in May alone. M/S Fernlane and Alfred Olsen were just 2 of them.

Herma is listed in the westbound Convoy ON 128, which had departed Liverpool on Sept. 5-1942. Herma, however, joined the convoy from Halifax and arrived New York on Sept. 24 - follow link for more information. A number of other Norwegian ships also took part in this convoy.

In Jan.-1943 we find her in station 64 of the westbound Convoy ON 160. This convoy had started out in Liverpool (for New York) on Jan. 11, but it looks like Herma joined from Halifax on Febr. 1. Convoy ON 160 arrived New York on Febr. 4, and that same month Herma transported equipment to the American installations on Fernando de Noronha (an island off South America). An airport was being built there at the time, and Herma was laden with bulldozers and landing craft, petrol, oil and explosives. It appears they spotted a periscope on this voyage (northeast of Trinidad), and their guns were put to use, as were the "German and the Englishman" which on this occasion served a dual purpose by enabling them to speed up while at the same time thoroughly hiding them in pitch black smoke! The sighting was reported over the radio and aircraft assistance was promised from Trinidad, but it never showed up. Fortunately, nor did the U-boat/sub? again. Gunners at the time were Johan Lagerstrøm and Ingvald Wahl. A few days later Herma stopped at a small port in Brazil where some American military personell embarked before they continued to their destination.

The cargo was unloaded at Baia de Santo Antonio bay on the northwest side of the island, which also had a fortress and a penal colony, so Herma's crew had been instructed to not launch their boats to go ashore under any circumstances; if they did they might be mistaken for escaping murderers from the penal colony and promptly fired upon from the fortress. However, the prisoners were later moved to to the southwestern point of the island, though some of them were used to help unload the equipment. This took all of 7 weeks, whereupon Herma continued to New York via Pernambuco and Key West.

POST WAR:

Purchased by A/S Rask (Sigv. Risanger), Haugesund in Apr.-1950 and renamed Rask. Sold in Apr.-1952 to Suomen Moottorilaiva O/Y (K. O. Weckström), and registered as Silja of Helsingfors. Managed by E. Tilhe from 1955, then renamed Satu in 1956 for Vartusari Paavo Nurmi Shipowners, Espoo, Finland. Had the name Make from 1958 for O/Y Thombrokers A/B, Helsingfors, then Ritva for Laiva O/Y Ritva (E. Poikonen), Rauma from 1963. From 1967 she sailed as Marietta for Matheos Rigas & Dinos Matropoulos, Piræus and was broken up in Greece in 1971.