M/S Karmt

To Karmt on the "Ships starting with K" page.

Crew List


Picture received from Thorbjørn Andersen, Norway
(original source: Roy Kaasa, Porsgrunn).

Misc. War Details:

"Nortraships flåte" has included a report from captain Fjeldheim about 2 attacks in Oct.-1942. In the afternoon of Oct. 20 they had passed a large oil slick which made the captain suspicious, and a couple of hours later they were suddenly shelled by an unknown attacker which appeared to be 1000-1500 yards away. One of the shells exploded about 50 yards off their port quarters, and a 4th shell went between Karmt's masts and landed about 1000 yards off her port bow. The gunners were ordered to return the fire, and after a while all was quiet. On Oct. 22, just as darkness was starting to fall an exploding "rocket" was observed ahead of them, estimated to be about 25 n. miles away, and Karmt altered course. Early the next morning a white lifeboat sail was seen off the starboard bow and course altered for a while in order to determine whether it really was a lifeboat they had seen, but it disappeared before this could be established, so original course was resumed. 2 hours later, when in position 14 28N 55 30W, a torpedo was suddenly spotted coming towards them on the starboard side. The alarm was sounded while hard port wheel was given, and though it looked for a while as if they would not be able to avoid it, the torpedo ended up going parallel to them, about 10-15 meters off their starboard bow. Karmt eventually reached her destination unharmed, but there is no information on where she was going at the time.

I've received a copy of a memorandum based on statements made by survivors (dated Jan. 8-1943 and signed by U.S.N.R. Lieutenant H. V. Stebbins) which mentions both these incidents (but not the shelling on Oct. 20). The torpedo incident is mentioned only briefly, simply stating that Karmt was missed by torpedoes without warning at 13:15Z on Oct. 23-1942 in the position given above, but then goes on to say that previously, at 12:00Z on Oct. 22-1942 in position 14 06N 53 10W, a tanker had been sighted, which remained in sight until 20:00Z. The tanker ran parallel to Karmt and then crossed her bow, and 2 hours after losing touch, a white rocket was fired dead ahead of Karmt. The tanker is described as half loaded, 10 000 tons, 2 masts, 1 black funnel with white band and a star in the center of the band, 2 tall ventilators abaft bridge, 3 Spanish flags painted on her side, wooden flag on poop, and an illegible name between the bridge and ventilators. It goes on to say that the description of this tanker "substantially compares" with a photograph of the Spanish tanker Campeche.

As for the torpedo attack, I checked with Rohwer to see if there were any U-boats in the general area of the attack mentioned by Karmt's captain around the dates given, and found that U-129 (Witt) was in position 14 33N 54 51W on Oct. 23-1942 (American Reuben Tipton was sunk).
I asked Rainer Kolbicz (Uboat.net) to investigate further for me, and he sent me some information that could coincide with the attacks mentioned by captain Fjeldheim. Rainer found that at 20:54 hours German time on Oct.-20-1942, U-514 (Auffermann) fired a torpedo at a steamer of 5000 tons (described as in ballast with course 290), which missed in approx. position 11 50N 46 30W. The U-boat then surfaced and attacked with the deck gun, but broke off the attack when the ship fired back. Also, on Oct. 23 at 14:36 hours (German time), U-129 fired a spread of two torpedoes at a steamer of approx. 5000 tons (described as in ballast with course 270) from a distance of 2000 metres and missed in approx. position 15 10N 52 50W. Rainer adds that from the description and positions it looks like Karmt (if it was indeed Karmt) was sailing a westerly course, probably from Freetown to the Caribbean in ballast.

Karmt rescued 29 men from 2 lifeboats from the Panamanian tanker Heinrich von Riedemann, captain Andrew Weiler, on Apr. 17-1943. This ship had been torpedoed the night before between Aruba and Trinidad. The survivors were landed in Trinidad on the 18th. A detailed account of the sinking of this ship, and names of all 44 survivors can be found in the book "Ships of the Esso Fleet in World War II" which is fairly easy to find on the Internet (try bookfinder.com). There were no casualties. See also the external link provided at the end of this text.

At the second external website that I've linked to at the end of this text, Karmt is listed as sailing in Convoy SL 131/MKS 15 in June-1943, general cargo, voyage from Durban and Capetown for Mersey. The Norwegian Dagrun, Anna Odland, Hallfried and Norheim also took part in this convoy. The SL portion, Convoy SL 131, had departed Freetown on June 13-1943, joined up with MKS 15 from Gibraltar on the 24th, and arrived Liverpool on July 4. Follow the link for more information.

In a document I have for Convoy GUS 33 from Port Said, there's a ship which looks like it might be Karmt (the document is a little blurry and hard to decipher, so I'm not 100% sure). This convoy, which had a number of Norwegian ships, departed Port Said on March 5-1944 and arrived Hampton Roads on Apr. 4, but many ships had other destinations and left the convoy along the way, as will be seen by going to my page about this convoy. It looks like Karmt was bound for Buenos Aires.

The external website mentioned above also has her in Convoy SL 161/MKS 52 in June-1944, bound for Mersey, station 33, the SL portion (in which Karmt sailed, station 103) having departed Freetown on June 11, then joined up with the MKS convoy from Gibraltar on the 20th. In Aug. she sailed in Convoy OS 85/KMS 59, voyage from Belfast to Freetown with coal in station 83 of the convoy, which arrived Freetown on Aug. 21, having departed Liverpool on Aug. 1. A couple of months later she sailed in Convoy SL 177/MKS 68 (note that she's also listed in the previous convoy, SL 176/MKS 67, but may not have sailed or returned to port?). The SL portion of this convoy, in which Karmt and the Norwegian Gabon sailed, departed Freetown on Nov. 15-1944, joined up with the MKS portion from Gibraltar on the 26th, the combined convoy arriving Liverpool on Dec. 5. She was on a voyage from Takoradi to Mersey, having departed Takoradi on Oct. 10, and had a cargo of palm kernels, manganese ore, cotton seed, copra, logs, rubber, ground nuts, coffee and sundries, and was also carrying 2 passengers. Early in 1945 we find her in Convoy OS 102/KMS 76, voyage Augusta for Taranto area with general cargo, station 21. This convoy departed Liverpool on Jan. 2-1945.

Final Fate - 1945:

Karmt was on a voyage from Port Harcourt to Antwerp in convoy TAM 142 when she was torpedoed by U-245 (Schumann-Hindenberg) off Dover on April 18-1945. She had a cargo of 7539 tons of West African produce; groundnuts, palmoil and general, but I've found no information on where she had originally started this voyage. (A visitor to my website has told me that "Shipwreck Index of the British Isles" says Karmt also carried valuable minerals, including gold and tin concentrate which was salvaged after the war by Risdon Breazley). The explosion occurred on the starboard side in the aftermost part of the ship, causing considerable damages, killing 4 mechanics, whose cabins were right above the explosion area, and severely injuring Gunner Øivind Rosvold, while 5 other crew members were less severely wounded. 2 of the lifeboats were destroyed, but the survivors were ordered to the remaining 3 boats. The British? armed trawler Sir Lancelot came up to them and took 3 injured men on board (Gunner Rosvold, Mechanic Sollied, and Able Seaman Kvalvik), and after having given them first aid they were transferred to another Navy vessel and taken ashore.

The others later rowed back towards Karmt, but before they reached her she turned over to port and slowly went under. An MTB then towed the lifeboats back to Sir Lancelot where the survivors were fed, while towing the boats towards shore. The survivors sailed the last 2 miles into Ramsgate in the lifeboats. Among the survivors was the Belgian pilot, who had embarked at The Downs that morning, though one of my books on Haugesund ships, "Våre Motorskip" states that the Belgian pilot was among the casualties.

Maritime hearings were held in London on Apr. 4-1945 with the captain, the 1st and 2nd mates, Able Seaman Johansen (lookout at the time) and the 1st engineer appearing. The captain's report presented at the hearings states they were torpedoed at 05:40, giving the position as "207° North Goodwin Lightvessel 2 n. miles", sank at 08:30, "212° North Goodwin Lightvessel 5 n. miles". Rohwer gives the attack time as 05:55, position 51 27N 01 43E

The British D/S Filleigh was also sunk in this attack.

Crew List:

Survivors
Captain Arne Fjeldheim	1st Mate Paul Pedersen	2nd Mate Karl Magnus P. Ulla	3rd Mate Johnny V. Rohde	Radio Operator Ambrose Tai * (Chinese)	Radio Operator George Dotzenroth (Canadian)
Carpenter Johan Pedersen	Boatswain Rolf Berntsen	Able Seaman Johan Stålsmo	Able Seaman Henry A. Hansen	Able Seaman Anker Ellingsen	Able Seaman Kolbjørn Johansen
Able Seaman Nils Hansen	Able Seaman Olav Kvalvik	Able Seaman Oskar Pedersen	Able Seaman/Gunner Kasper Skjerve	Able Seaman/Gunner Øivind Rosvold	Able Seaman/Gunner Kjell R. Dalbak
Able Seaman/Gunner Reidar O. A. Andresen	1st Engineer Brynjulf Bjelland	2nd Engineer Petrus Westerlund	3rd Engineer Ole Andreassen	Assistant Olav Eikeskog	Mechanic Anton Kaasa
Mechanic Karsten Sollied	Gunnery Officer Torleiv Torkildsen	Steward Kristian Michelsen	Cook Jan Pedersen	Galley Boy James A. Sunney (W. African)	Mess Boy Bazyli Kowalewski (Polish)
Mess Boy Jorge P. de Sousa (Portuguese)	Mess Boy Irving Moore (British)	Saloon Boy Christian Holm (W. African)	Pilot Camillo Lafare (Belgian)	+ 1 more survivor?
Casualties:
† Mechanic Arne R. Andersen	† Mechanic Ludvik Slettene	† Mechanic Per Skaug	† Mechanic Leif Arne Borgen

* The radio operator had previously served on Lisbeth - see this posting to one of my forums.

External links related to the text on this page:
Panamanian & Honduran Ships - this page has details on the sinking of Heinirch von Riedemann.

SL convoys and OS and OS/KMS Convoys - As can be seen Karmt is included in SL 131/MKS 15, SL 161/MKS 52, OS 85/KMS 59, SL 176/MKS 67, SL 177/MKS 68 and OS 102/KMS 76.

Those who died / Karmt - 5 mechanics appear to be commemorated at this memorial in Stavern, Norway. However, upon closer inspection of birthdates, it becomes clear that Ludvik Slettene and Ludvig Simonsen are one and the same. The text here says the Belgian pilot was among the casualties.

Operations Information for U-245 - This site says Karmt had a total crew of 41.

U-245

The Australian War Memorial has a picture of this ship. It can be found by running a search through their collection search page.

Back to Karmt on the "Ships starting with K" page.

Other ships by this name: H. M. Wrangell had previously had another ship by this name, originally delivered in Febr.-1919 as Urter to D/S A/S John K. Haaland, Haugesund, 1602 gt. Sold in Oct.-1926 to D/S A/S Corona (H. M. Wrangell & Co. A/S) and renamed Karmt. Lost in a hurricane on Jan. 23-1937, 70 n. miles northeast of Shetland on a voyage Port Talbot-Bergen. 1 died, the rest of the crew were rescued by D/S Leda (Bergenske Dampskibsselskab - listed under L on this site) and taken to Bergen. One of the survivors, Paul Ellefsen wrote a book about his war experiences which includes this incident (entitled "En krigsseilers dagbok", A Warsailor's Diary). He was 16 when he was on board. The company also had a ship by the name Karmt (tanker) later on, 1955-1965. Additionally, Haugesund had a D/S Karmt as far back as 1872, when she was delivered for John Valentinsen, Haugesund, 400 gt. This was Haugesund's first ocean going steamship. Lost near Great Yarmouth on her first voyage on Dec. 11-1872, in heavy snow when en route Ålesund-Portugal with a cargo of dried fish. Captain was Michael Sunde.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Våre motorskip", Leif M. Bjørkelund and E. H. Kongshavn, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume I, and misc. others for cross checking facts as named within the above text (see my sources). The memorandum mentioned in my text was received from Tony Cooper, England.