D/S Leiv Eiriksson
Updated Dec. 19-2009

To Leiv Eiriksson on the "Ships starting with L" page.

Note that there was also a tanker by this name, which was sunk in 1942.


When Vinni, post war - received from, and painted by, Jan Goedhart, Holland

Some Convoy Voyages:

For information on voyages made in between those discussed here, please see the documents received from the National Archives of Norway as well as Hague's Voyage Record above. Follow the convoy links provided for more details on them - other Norwegian ships also took part.

As mentioned further up on this page, Leiv Eiriksson was taken over by Nortraship in Wilmington on Jan. 29-1943. According to Page 1 of the archive documents, she left Wilmington on Febr. 1 for Hampton Roads, and from there she proceeded to North Africa on Febr. 18. Convoy information for this, and subsequent voyages, can be found in the Voyage Record.

She made a voyage from Bone to Oran at the beginning of June that year, and A. Hague suggests she may have joined Convoy MKS 14 for this voyage - see ships in all MKS convoys (MKS 14 will later be added to an individual page in my Convoys section). From Oran, she proceeded to the U.S. on June 7.

The following month she's listed as sailing in Convoy HX 248 from New York, bound for Avonmouth with general cargo, arriving July 31. The Commodore's report is also available for this convoy. She returned across the ocean with the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 197*, originating in Liverpool on Aug. 14, arriving New York on the 28th.

She now made another voyage to North Africa and back, and according to Arnold Hague, she rounded off that year by sailing to the U.K. in Convoy HX 271*, which left New York on Dec. 15-1943 and arrived Liverpool on the 29th; Leiv Eiriksson stopped at Clyde that day.

Early in 1944 we find her in the westbound Convoy ON 220*, which originated in Liverpool on Jan. 15 and arrived New York Febr. 4, and she was scheduled to return in Convoy HX 280 later that month, but did not sail. She joined the next convoy, HX 281, but returned to port (put into Halifax) and eventually got away with Convoy HX 284 on March 23, joining with the Halifax portion and carrying a general cargo as well as 2 tugs. The Norwegian Abraham Lincoln served as Commodore Vessel for this convoy. Leiv Eiriksson subsequently joined Convoy ON 234*, originating in Liverpool on Apr. 26-1944, arriving New York May 12. In June she shows up in Convoy HX 296 from New York, bound for Liverpool, Milford Haven and Falmouth, general cargo, then returned with the westbound Convoy ON 246*, which originated in Liverpool on July 25 and arrived New York Aug. 9. Towards the end of that month she can be found in Convoy HX 305 from New York (again with Abraham Lincoln as Commodore Vessel), and in Nov.-1944 she's listed in Convoy ON 265*, which left Southend on Nov. 8 and arrived New York on the 23rd.

She now proceeded to Aden, Colombo, Calcutta, etc.; see Page 2.

From Page 3 we learn that she went home to Norway in the summer of 1946.

* 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, the ships sailing in them are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys. The entire HX series will also be updated and completed (including the already existing ones), but for now, see ships in all HX convoys for the names of other ships in Convoy HX 271.

POST WAR:

Sold in Oct.-1946 to the Norwegian Government for Skibs-A/S Eidsiva (Sverre Ditlev-Simonsen & Co., Oslo), renamed Vinni in 1947. Sold to Italy in 1954 and renamed Probitas (Adriatico Tirreno Jonio Ligure "ATJL" di Alberto Ravano & Figli), Genoa. To Industria Armamento S. p. A., Genoa in 1965. Broken up at Vado, Italy, Apr.-1969, having arrived Vado on Sept. 13-1968.

Related external links:
Liberty Ships - Alphabetical list. John Wright Stanly is listed under the J's. (I've also seen it spelt Stanley).

Stavern Memorial Commemoration - There's a Motorman Edvin Halvorsen commemorated here among the casualties of the tanker Leiv Eiriksson, which was sunk in 1942. However, checking with "Våre falne", which lists Norwegian WW II casualties, I find that he died in an accident on June 26-1943. The ship is given as Leiv Eiriksson, so I believe he must have been on board the steamship by this name when the accident occurred.

Back to Leiv Eiriksson on the "Ships starting with L" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Liberty Ships in Peacetime, and their Contribution to World Shipping History" I. G. Steward - 1992, and misc.