Manager: C. T. Gogstad & Co., Oslo
Tonnage: 1416 gt

Built at Elsinore in 1933. Previous names: Ninna until 1935, Martinique until 1937.

Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Errors may exist, and several voyages are missing, including all her 1940 and 1941 voyages.

When war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940, Lutz was on her way from New Orleans to Cardenas, where she arrived Apr. 11, having left New Orleans on Apr. 8. See Page 1. Her 1941 voyages also start on that document and continue on Page 2 and Page 3, which also shows her 1942 voyages.

Lutz is mentioned among the ships leaving Halifax to form Convoy HX 195 on June 21-1942. Note, however, that Arnold Hague has not included her in this convoy (see his listing for HX 195 at ships in all HX convoys). Instead, she's listed by him as sailing from Halifax to St. John's, N.F. on that same date with Convoy HJ 6 (external link); she arrived St. John's on the 24th, according to Page 3 above. The information on my page about HX 195 is based on a diary, and it's possible that the person who saw Lutz leaving port at the same time as the other ships in this convoy simply assumed she was also destined for HX 195.

She had a narrow escape when U-223 (Wächter) attacked Convoy SG 19 about 150 miles west of Cape Farewell with five torpedoes at 04:52 hours on Febr. 3-1943 (convoy had left St. John's for Greenland on Jan. 29). Two of them hit the Dorchester and sank her with the loss of 673 lives. The other torpedoes missed the Norwegian Biscaya and Lutz. All 3 ships had previously started out from New York on Jan. 22 with Convoy HX 224, and had left the convoy on Jan. 27 in order to proceed to St. John's - see also Page 4 (unfortunately, some numbers are missing in the left margin of this particular document. Also, her voyage to Greenland is not included).

Robert Cressman, "The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II" (ref. link to "Hyperwar" below) has an entry for Febr. 3-1943 where he says Convoy SG 19, bound for Greenland, was escorted by Coast Guard cutters Tampa (WPG-48), Escanaba (WPG-77), and Comanche (WPG-76), adding that Dorchester was chartered by the War Department. Casualties are listed as 675 men, including 15 of the 24 Armed Guard sailors. He adds "four Army chaplains, representing four different faiths, bravely give up their lifebelts to soldiers who have none; all four perish with the ship". He also says that Biscaya was damaged in this attack.

Convoy SG 19 arrived Greenland on Febr. 4, and Lutz and Biscaya are said have to returned to St. John's with Convoy GS 21, departing Greenland on March 18-1943, arriving St. John's on the 23rd. Lutz is also listed in another convoy to Greenland, namely SG 28 (July-1943), returning with GS 33 (Oct.-1943), so she was there for quite a long time - ref. external links provided within the Voyage Record.

Related external links:
Misc. convoys - Based on Arnold Hague's database. By clicking on "Ship Search", using "Lutz" as keyword, direct links to the convoys she's listed in will come up.

List of Greenland Convoys - Here's the the main page.

Hyperwar - Linked directly to Robert Cressman's information for 1943.

The attack on Dorchester

Aa–Al	An–Ar	As–Av	Ba	Be	Bi–Bl	Bo	Br–Bu	C	D
E	F	G	Ha	He	Hi–Hy	Hø	I	J	K
L	M	N	O	PQ	R	Sa–Sc	Se–Sj	Sk–Sn	So
Sp–St	Su–Sø	Ta–Te	Th–Ti	To	Tr–Tø	U	V	W	Ø

Site Map | Search Warsailors.com |Merchant Fleet Main Page | Warsailors.com Home