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M/S Hindanger To Hindanger on the "Ships starting with H" page. Manager: Westfal-Larsen & Co. A/S, Bergen Delivered in Oct.-1929 from Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., Newcastle on Tyne. Captain: Otto Olsvik, who had been on board for 11 years, having served as captain since Nov.-1941. Hindanger was on her way from Suez to Rangoon with 250 British troops and equipment when Rangoon fell (March 8-1942) and was rerouted to Bombay.
She's listed among the ships in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 201 at the beginning of Aug.-1942, but lost the convoy in fog in the night of Aug. 4/5 and put in to St. John's. She subsequently joined the next convoy HX 202, which arrived Liverpool on Aug. 21-1942. She then joined the westbound Convoy ON 127, which left Liverpool on Sept. 4, and this was to be her last voyage. Torpedoed by U-584 (Deecke) on Sept. 11-1942, position 49 39N 32 24W, voyage Liverpool-New York. At the time of attack she was on a course 234° true, sailing at a speed of 8 knots, in fine weather and good visibility, wind southwest force 3. The officer on watch saw the torpedo approaching, but there was no time to take any avoiding action, and the torpedo struck amidships in the engine room on the starboard side, destroying the lifeboat on that side. The explosion completely wrecked the engine room and boilers, the No. 4 and No. 5 bulkheads gave way and the holds were flooded. Distress signals were sent, but no reply was received. The ship was abandoned in 3 lifeboats and the survivors were rescued about 20 minutes later by the Canadian corvette Amherst. The 3rd engineer, who had been in the engine room had been injured, having received a deep wound in his hip, and Able Seaman Ødegaard had injured his back. About 30 minutes later the captain, 1st mate, 3rd mate, boatswain, 2nd engineer and others got into a lifeboat and rowed back on board in an effort to try and find a missing motorman, who had been on duty in the engine room, but upon entering the engine room and finding that the engines had collapsed and that the room had filled with water, it was assumed that he had been killed in the explosion. The captain of Amherst was ordered by the senior officer of escort to sink Hindanger with gun fire. According to Jürgen Rohwer this took place almost 4 hours after the attack and was done with depth charges, giving the position as 49 32N 32 21W. However, he adds in a footnote that the depth charges from Amherst may not have sunk her on the 11th, so that she had to be given 2 coups de grâce by U-608 the next day (this U-boat sank a damaged vessel on Sept. 12 which Rohwer suggests might have been Hindanger). The Guestbook message that I've linked to above from the grandson of 1st Mate Trygve Helland says he remembers clearly his grandfather saying she was sunk by the escort, and that he was annoyed that this was done without them being given a chance to save her and take her back to port. (It's still possible, of course, that she did not sink and that she had to be sunk the next day). The survivors were landed in St. John's on Sept. 16 where the injured 3rd engineer and able seaman were admitted to Memorial Hospital. The maritime hearings were held in St. John's on Sept. 18 with Captain Olsvik, the 2nd mate, the 1st engineer (who had been on board for 13 years, in other words, since the ship was new), Able Seaman Mjøs, and Able Seaman Kvam appearing. The captain, who had been asleep in the chart room when the torpedo struck stated that she sank 4 hours later, which corresponds with Rohwer's info. mentioned above, but he adds that he actually saw her sink. The other witnesses stated it was very dark, and they had seen her on fire, then the fire suddenly disappeared so they assumed she had gone down at that moment. M/T Sveve was also sunk in this convoy, as were several other ships - ref. link to my own page about ON 127 further up on this page, as well as the external link below. See also D/T Marit II, M/T Fjordaas and M/T Daghild. * There's a message in my Guestbook from the grandson of the 1st mate. ** I believe this able seaman may have been on board Berganger when that ship was sunk in June-1942. It may not be the same man, but it's such an unusual name that I think it could be.
Related external links: ON-127, 9-14 Sept 1942 - Lists the U-boats taking part in the attack on the convoy and other ships sunk. Uboat.net also has a section for Allied ships hit by U-boats, and by entering the name of each ship sunk in the search field, more information on them is available. Back to Hindanger on the "Ships starting with H" page. Westfal-Larsen later had another ship by the name Hindanger. This was the ex Cape Constantine, 5221 gt, which was launched on Febr. 21-1943 in Beaumont, Texas for the United States War Shipping Administration, completed in June that year. Westfal-Larsen bought the ship after the war (Nov.-1946) and renamed her Hindanger, but she was later purchased by Wilh. Wilhelmsen in Febr.-1961 and renamed Tampa. In June-1967 she was sold to the Philippines and renamed Manuel Quezon, then had 2 more name changes (President Quirino and Lucky Eight) before she was scrapped at Kaohsiung in Apr.-1975. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Misc. sources, incl. "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer, and "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum) - ref. My sources.
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