M/T Innerøy

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

Crew List

Misc. War Voyages:

Innerøy sailed in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 135 in June/July-1941, bound for Grangemouth with diesel oil in station 82 of the convoy. She returned with the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 2, leaving Liverpool on July 27-1941; Innerøy's destination is given as New York.

In Sept.-1941 she was in station 35 of Convoy HX 149 along with the Norwegian Daghild (station 63), Brasil (83), Thorsholm (33), Aristophanes (station 43), Thorshov (station 64), Somerville (66?), Glittre (24), Lise (44), Harpefjell (86), Norvik (Panamanian flag, Norwegian managers and therefore included on this website, in station 84, behind Brasil) and Brant County (87), as well as an unnamed Norwegian tanker in station 73. At the end of that year, in Nov.-1941, we find her in station 72 of Convoy HX 159.

Follow the convoy links for further dates and info - several Norwegian ships took part in these convoys.

Final Fate - 1942:

Torpedoed, starboard side by U-553 (Thurmann) on Jan. 22-1942, while en route from Aruba via Bermuda to Halifax (to join an eastbound convoy) with a cargo of 11 000 tons Pool Motor Spirit for England. Position was 41 16N 60 32W* according to a report presented at the subsequent maritime hearings. The explosion occurred near No. 7 tank aft, and ripped the ship open so that flaming petrol gushed out, setting the ship on fire. The radio operator was able to send out an SOS using the emergency transmitter, but due to the heat of the fire he had to leave the radio station before he had sent the position. Able Seaman Hans Tuft and 1st Mate Rolf Bjerkøy managed to lower a raft from the foredeck on the port side but it disappeared in the flames as the engine was still running and the ship moving. The 1st Mate and 4 others then succeeded in launching the motorboat from the bridge deck. The captain, who had been in his cabin when the torpedo hit, was seen on the bridge on the port side, and they shouted for him to jump overboard, but he did not do so, and they had to row for life to get away from the spreading flames.

About half an hour later the U-boat was seen going slowly around their ship, before taking off in a northwesterly direction. They were eventually able to get the motor started and were rescued by the British S/S Empire Amethyst 15 hours later. This ship had previously passed 2 empty lifeboats from Innerøy. The survivors were landed in Halifax. Able Seaman Tuft's hands were badly burnt and needed medical care. He had been at the wheel when the explosion occurred and when he went out on the starboard wing his coat was set ablaze.

The hearings were held in Halifax on Febr. 5 with all the survivors appearing except Able Seaman Nilsen.

Crew List:

Survivors
1st Mate Rolf Bjerkøy	3rd Mate Sigmund Hanssen	Radio Operator Iver Nausthaug	Able Seaman Hans Tuft	Able Seaman Ragnar Nilsen
Casualties:
† Captain Einar Winsnes	† 2nd Mate Karl Pettersen	† Carpenter Severin Severinsen	† Boatswain Bjørn Skaar	† Able Seaman Thomas Sommerud	† Able Seaman Alfred Johnsen
† Able Seaman Torger Lervik	† Able Seaman Asbjørn Fredriksen	† Able Seaman Sverre Jensen	† Able Seaman Nils Wormdahl	† Able Seaman Gunnar Andresen	† Able Seaman Gaston Drouin (Canadian)
† 1st Engineer Gunnar Dahl	† 2nd Engineer Thore Thoresen	† 3rd Engineer Arne Henriksen	† 4th Engineer Arvid Blom	† Electrician Lars Simonsen	† Mechanic Bjarne Gundersen
† Mechanic Ingebregt Tvedt	† Mechanic Ole Mikalsen	† Mechanic Jonas Aarvik	† Mechanic Ottar Støa	† Mechanic Olaf Nilsen	† Mechanic Leif Tveit
† Pump Man Karl Pettersen	† Oiler Nils R. Nilsen	† Oiler Jørgen Andersen	† Steward Henry Knutsen	† Cook Ingvar Jacobsen	† Galley Boy Anders Haugerud
† Mess Boy Håkon Tjerandsen	† Saloon Boy John Rodrigues (Portuguese)	† Saloon Boy Vincent Pinheiro (Portuguese)	† Gunner Bjarne Olsen Støle	† Gunner Alfred Wills (British)	† Gunner James Brocklehurst (British)

More details on the Canadian Able Seaman can be found by entering his name in the relevant serach field at the Commonwealth War Graves Comm. website, using WW II and 1942 in the other fields. The only person by the last name of Wills I can find listed as having died on the date Innerøy was sunk is Albert Victor Wills, there's also a James Brocklehurst (all these links are external).

Related external links:
Those who died - The 31 Norwegians only are commemorated at this memorial for seamen in Stavern, Norway.

U-553 | Karl Thurmann

Back to Innerøy on the "Ships starting with I" 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).