M/T Kollbjørg
Updated Jan. 8-2008

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

Crew List


In Port Arthur, 1937.
Received from Aage A. Wilhelmsen, Norway.

Some Convoy Voyages – 1941-1942:

The external website that I've linked to below has Kollbjørg in Convoy HX 149 in Sept.-1941. As will be seen, she's not mentioned on my own page about this convoy, but my information is incomplete (she's the un-named Norwegian tanker in station 73). The following month she's listed as bound for Halifax in station 33 of the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 22*, which left Liverpool on Oct. 2 and dispersed on the 15th. She returned to the U.K. later that month with Convoy HX 156, which left Halifax on Oct. 22 and arrived Liverpool on Nov. 5. However, it looks like Kollbjørg stopped by Belfast Lough, because she's listed in Convoy BB 98 from there to the U.K. on Nov. 9 (again, see the external link below). At the beginning of Dec. we find her, with destination Providence, in the westbound Convoy ON 42*, leaving Liverpool on Dec. 1, dispersed Dec. 14.

In Jan.-1942 she was in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 171, returning the following month with the westbound Convoy ON 65*, which left Liverpool on Febr. 8 and dispersed on the 19th. Her destination is given as Corpus Christi on that occasion. At the beginning of May that year we find her in station 73 of Convoy HX 188, which arrived Liverpool on May 15, but again it looks like she stopped by Belfast Lough, because the external site below has her (and other ships from HX 188) in Convoy BB 174 from there on May 16. Kollbjørg returned to the U.S. (Galveston) at the end of that month with the westbound Convoy ON 99.

(For information on a couple of voyages made in between the ones I've mentioned here, please follow the instructions given at the external link provided below).

In Aug.-1942 she sailed in Convoy HX 204 departing Halifax for the U.K. on Aug. 23 (according to the external site below, she had previously arrived Halifax on Aug. 21 with Convoy BX 34), and the following month she's listed as bound for New York in the westbound Convoy ON 129* (departure Liverpool Sept. 11, arrival New York Sept. 25). Kollbjørg's final destination on this occasion appears to have been Curacao, because she's listed with that destination in Convoy NG 309 at the external site below - this convoy departed New York on Sept. 27-1942. She subsequently shows up, voyaging from Gitmo to Curacao, in Convoy GAT 11 the following month, and then from Curacao back to Gitmo in Convoy TAG 12, and back to New York in Convoy GN 12, which arrived New York Oct. 24.

2 days later she was scheduled to return to the U.K. in Convoy HX 213 (left New York on Oct. 26-1942), but did not sail, and was also cancelled from HX 214 and HX 215, but eventually got away with HX 216 on Nov. 19, bound for Bowling and Ardrossan with a cargo of gasoline in station 63 of the convoy. She was subsequently scheduled to head back to New York with Convoy ON 153 the following month but instead joined ON 155 about a week later. Follow the links for further dates and info on these convoys.

* All the ON convoys mentioned here are available and will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course, along with further details on each. In the meantime, please go to these convoys in the section listing ships in all ON convoys. As will be seen, several Norwegian ships sailed in all of them.

Related external link:
Misc. convoys - By clicking on "Ship Search", using "Kollbjorg" as keyword, a few convoys that are not mentioned in my own text will come up, including some local U.K. convoys. Here are HX 149, BB 98, BB 174, BX 34, NG 309, GAT 11, TAG 12, and GN 12, all mentioned above.

Final Fate - 1943:

Convoy ON 155 arrived New York on Jan. 6-1943. By Jan. 14 Kollbjørg was ready to sail to Mersey in Convoy HX 223, together with several other Norwegian ships, among them M/T Nortind, and this was to be their last voyage.

The weather in the North Atlantic in the winter of 1942/43 was the worst in the memory of man; during a period of 20 weeks storm after storm raged for 116 days, making it difficult for the convoys to stay together, and for the escorts to protect them. This convoy encountered a bad storm which on the 24th approached hurricane force, and when an enormous breaker swept across the foredeck of Kollbjørg shortly after 1 o'clock that afternoon she broke in two behind midships (near the pump room and tank No. 5), 58 28N 41 34W. The two parts drifted away from each other, the engine was stopped by the 4th engineer, and the crew in the stern section chose to stay on board, which appeared safer than the prospects of being in lifeboats in that weather. They saw some of the crew members on the forepart of the ship, which was still afloat with the bow high up in the air, and about half an hour after the ship had broken in two they had to start the engines again in order to avoid a collision with the helplessly drifting foreship.

Nortind and the American tanker Pan Maryland went out of the convoy and stayed close to the broken ship all day, but couldn't do much in the storm, and by that evening the forepart was nowhere to be seen. Just after 22:00 those on the stern section of Kollbjørg decided to attempt to leave the ship, and managed to row in 2 lifeboats over to Pan Maryland which succeeded in taking the 26 survivors on board. However, one man was badly injured during the transfer and in spite of continuous efforts to revive him for 3 hours he died that night (Adolf Andersen). By the time they abandoned ship, the front part of the stern section had sunk down so that the propeller was out of the water. Kollbjørg lost 11 men, including the captain.

Pan Maryland searched for the forepart, but then continued on to try to catch up with the convoy. She landed the survivors in Avonmouth in the afternoon of Febr. 3-1943. The maritime hearings were held in Cardiff on Febr. 9 with the 1st engineer, the 4th engineer, and the carpenter appearing. Carpenter Bækkevold had been on board since Aug.-1940.

Nortind, which had a cargo of gasoline was last seen at 01:00 on Jan. 25. She was too far behind the convoy to be able to catch up, and on the 26th she was sunk by U 358 (Manke), appr. position 58 30N 34 00W. All 43 died, 34 were Norwegian, 7 British, 2 Dutch passengers. Their names can be found on my page about Nortind.

According to German records Kollbjørg's forepart was sunk by U-607 (Mengersen) and U-594 (Mumm) in the afternoon of Jan. 26, position 58 20N 39 30W, but this was possibly/probably the abandoned stern section (R. W. Jordan's "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939" says she broke in 2 on Jan. 26 and was torpedoed and sunk by U-607 in position 58 40N 33 10W).

The Norwegian Brimanger, Brasil, Egda, Villanger and Norfalk(?) were also in this convoy. More information on them can be found with the help of the alphabet index at the end of this page.

Crew List:

Survivors
Carpenter Harald D. Bækkevold	Boatswain Martin Sletta	Able Seaman Finn Kristensen	Able Seaman Nils Magnusson (Swedish)	Able Seaman Trygve Skiftesvik	Able Seaman Harry Mathisen
Able Seaman Martin Pedersen	Able Seaman Karl Rasmussen	Ordinary Seaman Ottar Helland	1st Engineer Alf G. With	2nd Engineer Harald Hallaren	4th Engineer Ragnar Hvidsten
Electrician John Johannessen	Mechanic Johan Ellingsen	Mechanic Peder Kornstad	Mechanic Harald Olsen	Mechanic Astor Sørensen	Mechanic Svein Brurok
Mechanic Adolf Amundsen	Oiler John Johnsen	Oiler Ronald Bailey (British)	Galley Boy Thomas Adams (British)	Mess Boy Andrew Gallagher (British)	Mess Boy Robert Muldoon (British)
Saloon Boy James Rodger (British)
Casualties:
† Captain Edvin Apall-Olsen	† 1st Mate Hans Tangen-Johansen	† 2nd Mate Jesper Holsbøe	† 3rd Mate Ernst Jonassen	† Radio Operator Tørres Heggelund	† Able Seaman Hartvig Hansen
† Able Seaman Andreas Thorsen	† Pump Man Adolf Andersen	† Steward Oskar Pettersen	† Gunner Anton Bratteng	† Gunner Albert Mikalsen

Related external links:
Those who died / Kollbjørg - 13 are listed here - on checking further I find 2 captains, namely Edvin Apall-Olsen and Alfred Edvardsen (one explanation in this case could be that the ship had previously had another captain by the name A. Edvardsen who had died before Apall-Olsen joined). In addition to those included in the table above, this site also commemorates an Able Seaman Erling Andresen (who may have died in a previous incident?) and an Ordinary Seaman Albert M. Kolltveit who might be idential to Albert Mikalsen above (his full name may have been Albert Mikalsen Kolltveit).

The following links no longer work, but I'll leave them in for now, until I can find out if the site has moved, or if it has been taken down altogether:

Merchant Men at War - The British Radio Operator Eric Bissmire has been wondering about the identity of this ship for years, as he caught Kollbjørg's SOS signals (he was on another ship in the convoy), but did not know what later happened to her until I was able to supply him with this information a few years ago. He now has a separate page on Convoy HX 223, and is aiming to gather personal information from those who took part, so if anyone can help with this, please contact him. He also has pictures of British medals, and an account of the Battle of the Atlantic.

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

Odd Berg, Oslo later had another tanker by the name Kollbjørg. This was the ex Empire Diamond, built 1941, which became Nortraship's Norsol the following year. Renamed Kollbjørg in 1946. Became the Swedish Storö in 1956 (Odmark & Andersson). Arrived Hong Kong for breaking up on Nov. 20-1959.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume I, and misc. for cross checking facts (ref. My sources).