D/S Loke - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

D/S Loke

To Loke on the "Ships starting with L" page.

Owner: D/S A/S Laly
Manager: C. T. Gogstad & Co., Oslo
Tonnage: 2421 gt

Built by Craig, Taylor & Co., Stockton-on-Tees in 1915. Previous names: Porthcawl until 1920, Claymont until 1928.

Managed by Chine Trading Co., Cardiff during the war.

Captain: Sverre Johnsen.

Related item on this website:
On my page Warsailor Stories, I've included the personal story of someone whose brother was on board Loke at some point in the war (the first story on that page - there's also a link to the original, Norwegian version of the story). While there are no details on this ship, it's an interesting story about 5 brothers and a sister who served outside of Norway during the war; the brothers on 17 different ships altogether. Another sister was involved in "illegal" activities in Norway, as was the father.

Some War Voyages:

Loke, bound for Bordeaux with copper, is listed in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 47 in June-1940, in which the Norwegian Italia was sunk (Loke is said to have been scheduled for the next convoy, HX 48, but was transferred to HX 47 instead). She was one of the last ships to get out of Bordeaux during the chaotic and dangerous days of evacuations from France that summer. She had about 1100 refugees on board when she left.

According to the first external site that I've linked to at the end of this page, Loke rescued 126 survivors from the British Accra the following month. This ship had been sunk by U-34 on July 26-1940, convoy OB 188, which had departed Liverpool on July 23 - I'm not sure if this means Loke had also been in this convoy. Follow the link for more information. See also this posting to my Ship Forum.

In Sept. that same year she shows up in station 24 of Convoy HX 73, cargo of pit props for Newcastle, and in Nov.-1940 she joined Convoy OB 244 together with 11 other Norwegian ships. Loke's destination is given as Sydney C.B., and she joined the convoy from Oban. This convoy was attacked and several ships sunk (follow the link for details), but all the Norwegian ones escaped harm. She returned to the U.K. the following month with Convoy SC 16, which left Halifax on Dec. 15-1940, cargo of grain for Ipswich.

In Apr.-1941 we find her in the the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 29, cargo of grain for Ipswich, then in Aug. that year she's listed in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 10, which left Liverpool on Aug. 27-1941. Her destination is given as Father Point, station 56. In Nov. she sailed in the westbound Convoy ON 35 (station 63, bound for St. John's), and was scheduled to return with the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 60 the following month, but did not sail. She was also cancelled from the next convoy, SC 61, but eventually got away with SC 62, cargo of grain for Ipswich.

In Febr.-1942 she's listed as bound for Halfiax in the westbound Convoy ON 66*. In June-1942 she sailed in Convoy SC 86, returning with the westbound ON 112* the following month, cargo of coal, destination Sydney, C.B. She's mentioned on my page for Convoy HS 35 at the end of July-1942, but note that she was not actually in this convoy, but is said to have left Halifax for Montreal on July 29. In fact, this external page has her in Convoy HS 36, which left Halifax on July 29 and arrived Sydney, C.B. on the 31st. (no destination is given for Loke).

She went back to the U.K. in Aug.-1942 with Convoy SC 97 in which the Norwegian Bronxville was sunk, and in Sept. she again headed in the other direction with the westbound Convoy ON 132*, cargo of coal, bound for Halifax, later joining the Halifax portion of ON 134*, possibly to continue to New York or another U.S. port?

Loke lost a crew member on Oct. 10-1942 while the ship was still in Halifax. Stoker Sverre Johan Johansen had gone on board the Swedish Porjus to visit a friend, and died from his burns when a fire occurred on that ship.

In Sept.-1943 she shows up in the Sydney (C.B.) section of the slow Convoy SC 142, bound for Belfast Dock, cargo of lumber.

Follow the links for more details on the convoys mentioned here. *All the ON convoys 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, they all had several Norwegian ships.

In Nov.-1943 she's listed in Convoy OS 59/KMS 33, cargo of coal for Algiers, station 83. The KMS portion, in which Loke sailed, arrived Gibraltar on Nov. 29. The external website that I've linked to below has more on this convoy - as can be seen, Lago and Spurt are also included, while Alaska sailed in the OS portion. KMS 33 will also be added to my own website - in the meantime, please see the section listing ships in all KMS convoys. As will be seen, she also shows up in the following:
Convoy KMS 35 - Dec.-1943
Convoy KMS 39 - Febr.-1944
Convoy KMS 53 - June-1944
as well as in Convoy MKS 51 - June-1944 (see the section listing ships in all MKS convoys).

She's said to have rescued 4 men from a British ship in the Adriatic Sea in 1944 - exact date and identity of the ship not known.

Related external links:
The loss of Accra

OS/KMS Convoys - As mentioned, Loke is listed in Convoy OS 59/KMS 33. Note that this site also has Loke in several convoys that are not mentioned in my text on this page. They can be found by going to this page, click on "Search database" on the left hand side then type "Loke" in the search field. This will bring up the convoys she was in.