Site Map | Search Warsailors.com | Merchant Fleet Main Page | Warsailors.com Home |
|
M/S L. A. Christensen To L. A. Christensen on the "Ships starting with L" page. Owner: A/S Ulabrand Built by Deutsche Werft AG, Betrieb Finkenwärder, Hamburg, Germany in 1925. Captain: Arne Høst Olsen Her voyages are listed on this original image received from the National Archives of Norway. Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each. Errors may exist, and some voyages are missing.
L. A. Christensen is listed in Convoy SL 69, which left Freetown on March 23-1941 and arrived Liverpool on Apr. 18. According to A. Hague, she had serious engine defects on arrival, and this may have been the reason why she did not leave the U.K. again until Jan.-1942 - see archive document. She had been scheduled to sail in station 43 of Convoy OS 13 in Nov.-1941, but did not sail. She's also mentioned among the ships in OS 14, and again for the next convoy, OS 15 with a notation saying she did not sail - ref. external link provided below. She eventually got away with Convoy OS 16, on a voyage in station 34 from Clyde to Freetown/Takoradi/Duala with war stores. OS 16 departed Liverpool on Jan. 5-1942 and arrived Freetown on the 23rd - as already indicated, L. A. Christensen joined from Clyde. From Freetown, she proceeded to Takoradi 2 days later, then on to Durban, Karachi and Bombay, returning to Durban in Apr.-1942. Related external links:
L. A. Christensen departed Durban again in ballast on May 9-1942, bound for New York but was later diverted to Philadelphia. She was torpedoed on the starboard side between No. 1 and 2 holds by U-129 (Witt) at 13:50 ship's time on June 10-1942, 27 44N 63 54W, causing a tremendous explosion, blowing off the hatches and twisting the deck at No. 1 hatch. No SOS was sent out because the radio station was destroyed. The foreship started to sink immediately while listing heavily to port, and she sank vertically down in 10-15 minutes. By then all 31 had abandoned ship in 2 lifeboats and 1 motorboat. The U-boat came up and took the ship's name off the rafts which were floating amongst the debris, then gave the survivors the position, and distance from Bermuda before taking off in a southerly direction. The lifeboats set sail with a course for Bermuda. They were picked up at 08:25 the next morning, June 11, by the Norwegian D/S Bill in 28 01N 63 57W and landed at Bermuda on June 12. Hearings were held in New York on June 23-1942 with the captain, the 2nd mate, Ordinary Seaman Nossum (helmsman), Ordinary Seaman Vistung (lookout) and the 3rd engineer appearing. For info, her armament consisted of a 4" gun, 2 Hotchkiss, 4 P.A.C.'s and 1 Holman. Crew List - No Casualties:
Related external links: Back to L. A. Christensen on the "Ships starting with L" page. 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 - (ref. My sources).
|