D/S Ila - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

D/S Ila

To Ila on the "Ships starting with I" page.

Crew List

Manager: Per T. Lykke, Trondheim
Tonnage: 1583 gt, 889 net, 2425 tdw.
Call Sign: LKEH

Built at Porsgrunds Mekaniske Verksted, Porsgrunn, Norway, delivered on Apr. 14-1939.

Captain: Thore K. Johnsen

Some War Voyages:

Ila, bound for Sunderland with a cargo of pit props, sailed in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 64 in Aug.-1940 (joined the convoy from Sydney, C.B.). She was scheduled for the Sydney, C.B. portion of Convoy HX 80 in Oct., but instead joined the slow Convoy SC 8 on Oct. 15, cargo of pit props for Hull.

Towards the end of Jan.-1941 she joined the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 20, cargo of pulp for London, but returned to port and later joined Convoy SC 23 (her destination was now Rochester). In May that year she was 1 of several Norwegian ships in the Gibraltar-U.K. Convoy HG 63. Her destination on that occasion is given as Barrow, cargo of iron ore, station 83. In July that same year it looks like she was scheduled for the Sydney, C.B. portion of Convoy HX 139 (ship's name hard to decipher), but cancelled and joined the slow Convoy SC 38 instead. This convoy is not available to me, but is included at the external site that I've linked to below. The following month she shows up in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 10, which left Liverpool on Aug. 27-1941.

Related external link:
SC convoys

Final Fate - 1941:

Ila was on a voyage from Boston to Glasgow, sailing in station 74 of Convoy SC 48 (left Sydney C.B. on Oct. 5) with a cargo of 2070 tons steel and general when she was hit by 2 torpedoes from U-553 (Thurmann) in the morning of Oct. 15-1941. 1 torpedo hit below hatch No. 2, the other below the after part of the bridge, both on the starboard side, followed by violent explosions. She broke in two and sank immediately, 53 34N 29 57W*.

As it had been impossible to lower any of the lifeboats, and the raft located on Hatch No. 3 was smashed, another jammed under a davit, 6 men, including the captain kept themselves afloat on pieces of wreckage, while the 1st mate, 1st engineer and 2 of the crew held on to the capsized motor lifeboat. Their efforts to turn the boat over failed, and 1st Engineer Hagbart Andersen soon died of cold and exhaustion.

The survivors drifted helplessly for 3 hours while the convoy continued. They were picked up at dawn by the French corvette Mimosa (Captain Boger Birot) but 3rd Engineer Richard Andresen and Able Seaman Georg Falch died shortly thereafter in spite of the efforts of the corvette's crew to save them. They were buried at sea.

Mimosa landed the survivors in Reykjavik on Oct. 20 and the maritime hearings were held there on Oct. 24 with the captain, the 1st mate and Able Seaman Tvedt (helmsman) appearing, all on the bridge at the time of the attack. Able Seaman Eikemo was on lookout duty. The 1st mate stated that he had been floating on his lifevest in the water for an hour when he came across the capsized motorboat which already held 3 men, adding that he was taken into a British lifeboat about an hour and a half later, so it would be reasonable to believe that the others had also been taken into that boat

*Rohwer gives the sinking position as 53 34N 30 10W for Ila and time as 08:23, German time, 2 minutes after the British Silvercedar had been sunk by the same U-boat. Captain Johnsen's report states that a ship ahead of them was hit at approximately 04:45 (ship's time), whereupon all of Ila's crew members were called and ordered to be ready by the lifeboats, while Ila attempted to steer clear of the wreckage and people in the water. Shortly afterwards, at approx. 04:55, Ila was struck. The captain was convinced he had heard the hissing sound of the torpedoes being fired, but the U-boat was not seen. Ila's armament consisted of a 4" gun, 1 Hotchkiss, 1 Marlin and 2 Lewis guns.

M/T Barfonn, D/S Erviken and D/S Rym were also sunk in this battle. Other merchant ships lost were the Panamanian Bold Venture (cargo of cotton, steel and copper - 17 died), the Greek Evros (7000 tons iron ore - 30 died), the British Empire Heron (7673 tons sulphur - 42 died), Silvercedar (7300 tons steel and general - 20 died). W. C. Teagle, with a cargo of 15 000 tons fuel oil was also sunk. The remainder of the convoy arrived Liverpool on Oct. 22. The various external websites that I've linked to at the end of this page have a lot more details on this battle.

Crew List:
Norwegian, unless otherwise noted

Survivors
Captain Thore K. Johnsen	1st Mate Halvor Sverkeli	Able Seaman Wilhelm Tvedt	Ordinary Seaman Henry N. Johansen	Ordinary Seaman Oskar Eikemo	Donkeyman Mathias Lexau
Stoker Percy Andersen (Swedish)
Casualties:
† 2nd Mate Mauritz Pettersen	† Radio Operator Birger Mjellem	† Boatswain Olav H. Forvik	† Able Seaman Ola O. Hallheim	† Able Seaman Johan K. Johansen	† Able Seaman Georg Johan Falck
† 1st Engineer Anders H. Andersen	† 2nd Engineer Petter Buer	† 3rd Engineer Richard Andresen	† Stoker Alfred Johannessen	† Stoker Peder Johan Sell	† Steward Eivind V. Bodsberg
† Cook Olav A. Larsen	† Mess Boy Joseph McConnell * (British)

*Billy McGee, England has told me that Joseph McConnell is commemorated at Tower Hill, Panel 57; further details on him can be found by entering his name in the relevant search field on the The Commonwealth War Graves Comm. website (external link).

Related external links:
Norwegians who died - 14 Norwegians are commemorated at this memorial for seamen in Stavern, Norway - 2 are listed as steward (Bodsberg and Larsen - "stuert" in Norwegian). Some of the names are spelt a little differently, and titles are also different in some cases. In addition to the Norwegians named in the table above, there's also a Boatswain Jens Nikolai Wiik commemorated - he may have died in an earlier incident.

Convoy SC 48
U-553 | Karl Thurmann

HMS Broadwater - A thoroughly researched website about the history and fate of this ship, one of the escorts of the convoy. This link goes directly to the first page of the section describing the battle of SC 48. The subsequent pages go on to list the ships lost, their destination and cargoes, as well as the names of all the escort vessels and the attacking U-boats. It also has a description of the events surrounding the loss of the ship. 2 survivors from Erviken had been rescued by Broadwater and were lost when she was torpedoed, though the Norwegian ship is referred to as Ericson. The website includes a report on the rescue of survivors, along with several other interesting reports, and a list of names of those who died.

The Kearney and Convoy SC 48 - The ships involved on all sides (from Encyclopedia of WW II Naval Battles).

U.S.S. Kearny - Interesting account of the attack on the Kearny, torpedoed by U-568 when on escort duties in Convoy SC 48, Oct. 17-1941.

Details on SC 48 escorts can also be found towards the end of
Chapter 3 of "Joining the War at Sea". Other convoys are also discussed.

Back to Ila on the "Ships starting with I" page.

This company also had a ship named Ila in 1947, originally the German Luna, built 1938, 1126 gt. Seized by the Allies in 1945, renamed Empire Concave. Became the Norwegian Galtnes in 1946, then Ila in 1947. From 1952 she sailed as the Brazilian Sao Leopoldo, then Mironave from 1965 (still Brazilian), still in service in 1982.

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) - ref. My sources.