D/S Iron Baron

To Iron Baron on the "Ships starting with I" page.

Some War Voyages:

Iron Baron is listed in the U.K.-Norway Convoy ON 17 early in March-1940. She must have gotten out of Norway somehow, because she was in allied control during the war.

In Sept.-1940 she was in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 3, from which the Norwegian Lotos was sunk, and which had a large number of Norwegian ships. However, there's a note in one of the documents for this convoy saying that she was "not traced" - I'm not sure whether this means she did not sail, or perhaps it simply means she lost touch with the convoy. She was bound for Immingham with pit props at the time.

The following spring we find her in the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 25, which left Halifax on March 10-1941, cargo of pit props for Cardiff, and in June she's listed, with a cargo of zinc concentrates for Swansea, in Convoy SC 34, leaving Sydney, C.B. on June 10-1941. In Aug. that year she was in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 4, bound for Quebec, station 24. She also sailed in Convoy ON 33, leaving Liverpool on Nov. 3-1941. Her destination is given as Sydney C.B./Clarke City, and she had station 13 of the convoy. She returned to the U.K. the following month with Convoy SC 59, cargo of grain for Ipswich.

On May 14-1942 she joined the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 84, station 32, and early in Aug. she was scheduled for Convoy SC 95 (Sydney, C.B. portion), but instead joined the next convoy, SC 96.

She was in the first westbound convoy of 1943, Convoy ON 158 in which the rescue vessel St. Sunniva was lost on her first and only voyage as rescue ship, not due to U-boat activities, but due to the horrendous weather endured by so many convoys that winter. The rescue vessel was last seen 2 days out of Halifax and was not heard of again according to "Convoy Rescue Ships" by Arnold Hague. He adds that she was believed to have iced up and capsized without warning, a theory supported by the state of another ship from the convoy which arrived Halifax the day before with up to 10 ft thick ice in some parts. Other Norwegian ships in this convoy, which had departed Liverpool on Jan. 2-1943 and arrived New York on the 23rd, were Acasta (oiler), Ragnhild, Hallfried and Solitaire. Iron Baron, whose destination is given as Halifax, had station 91 of this convoy, sailing right in front of Hallfried. According to the Commodore's notes it looks like the Halifax portion was ordered to proceed to Portland. No other ships were lost, but other Norwegian ships went down later on due to the continuous storms raging in the North Atlantic that winter (one of them being Kollbjørg).

In Apr./May-1943 we find Iron Baron in station 11 of Convoy SC 128 from Halifax, together with Romulus, Mathilda and Norbryn, and in Aug. that year she's listed in the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 140 (Sydney, C.B. portion - cargo of steel and lumber for Tyne). A couple of months later, in Nov.-1943, she shows up in Convoy SC 147 from Halifax, cargo of pit props for West Hartlepool.

At the end of March-1944 she joined the slow Convoy SC 156, in which the Norwegian Ruth I and South America were sunk - her destination is given as Belfast Dock, cargo of steel and lumber. In Sept./Oct.-1944 she's listed in Convoy HX 309. This convoy originated in New York, but Iron Baron joined with the Halifax section (departing on Sept. 17) together with the Norw. Lago, Velma and Maud, and was bound for Tyne with lumber. In Dec. that same year we find her in the Sydney, C. B. portion of the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 162, bound for Leith Dock, carrying a cargo of flour.

Follow the links for more info on the convoys mentioned here. As will be seen, several Norwegian ships sailed in them.

POST WAR:

Sold in 1952, renamed Vittorio Z. Sank following a collision with the Dutch Prins Mauritz in the north Sea in Nov.-1955.

Back to Iron Baron on the "Ships starting with I" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Roger W. Jordan - and misc.