D/T Norfjell

To Norfjell on the "Ships starting with N" page.

Crew List

Related item on this website:
Guestbook message from the son of one of Norfjell's gunners.

The 2nd external website that I've linked to at the end of this text has Norfjell in Convoy SL 107/SLF 107, which left Freetown on Apr. 16-1942 and arrived Liverpool on May 7. She was sailing in the fast section of the convoy (SLF), which was detached on May 4 and arrived Liverpool May 6. Norfjell's destination is given as Manchester.

In July/Aug.-1942 she's listed among the ships in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 200. (S. Inselseth, who later went on to become the captain of one of my mother's ships [see M/S Mogen, post war], served on Norfjell as a gunner in this period. He paid off on Aug. 8, in other words the day after this convoy arrived Liverpool).

Almost a year later, in Sept.-1943, I have her in Convoy PA 54 / PB 57, together with Torborg, Norfold, Havkong, Ima and Europe. At the end of Dec. that same year she's listed in the Augusta portion of Convoy MKS 35, voyage from Alexandria to Bizerta. She also shows up in Convoy MKS 37 (from Alexandria) in Jan.-1944, voyage from Augusta to Oran. As will be seen by following the links, other Norwegian ships also took part.

She was scheduled for the New York-U.K. Convoy HX 317 in Oct.-1944, but did not sail. She was also scheduled for Convoy HX 324 early in Dec. that year, but instead joined Convoy HX 325 from New York on Dec. 9-1944.

Torpedoed - 1945:

HX 325 arrived Liverpool on Dec. 23-1944. On Dec. 30 Norfjell joined Convoy JW 63 to Russia (see also Idefjord, among others the Norwegian destroyer Stord was escort), and on Febr. 14-1945 she was en route from Molotovsk for Murmansk in ballast in convoy BK 3 in order to join the westbound Convoy RA 64 back to the U.K. Off the Kola fjord the convoy ran into a German U-boat line (69 22N 33 50E). Norfjell received a torpedo from U-968(?*) in the engine room, where 3rd Engineer Rolf Bakkehaug and Stoker Bernhard Nilsen were killed immediately. She had a gaping hole measuring about 14 x 5 meters in her side, but stayed afloat, was taken in tow by the escort and beached near Tree Roochia in the Kola inlet. Damages proved to be temporarily repairable so that she could eventually continue west for more permanent repairs, sailing from Murmansk in tow on Oct. 20, arriving Stavanger Nov.15-1945. The American ship Horace Gray was also torpedoed (later beached).

Crew List:

Survivors
Captain Hans Hansen	1st Mate Rolf G. Karlsen	2nd Mate Nils Nilsen	2nd? Mate Olaf Simonsen	3rd Mate Olaf Enger	Radio Operator Stanley McDuff (British)
Radio Operator Walter Ferguson (British)	Carpenter Marius B. Strøm	Boatswain Stig Arnold Persson (Swedish)	Able Seaman Rolf Axelsen	Able Seaman Kjell Johansen	Able Seaman Knut Roland Bergh (Swedish)
Able Seaman Asbjørn Folkestad	Able Seaman Andreas Lunde	Able Seaman Egil Ribe	Able Seaman Sverre Iversen	Able Seaman Magnus Lihaug	Able Seaman Nick Fletos (Canadian)
Able Seaman Albert Andersen	Ordinary Seaman Frank Chadwick (British)	1st Engineer Hendrik Sandvik	2nd Engineer Lorentz Pihl	4th Engineer Victor E. Johannessen	Donkeyman Karl Andreassen
Donkeyman Jørgen N. Eide	Pumpman Hans Monsen	Stoker Olaf Nyheim	Stoker Egil Ugland	Stoker Jacob Hidle	Stoker Sverre Høiem
Stoker Sigurd Johansen	Stoker Harry Hansen	? Ernest Fritchards (Nationality?)	Steward Brynjulf Lorentzen	Cook Knut Ax (Swedish)	Cook Anker H. Riis
Galley Boy Aksel Nordahl	Mess Boy Ronald Berthiaum (Canadian)	Saloon Boy Ronald Chapman (Canadian)	Gunner George Stokes (British)	Gunner Maurice Kennedy (British)	Gunner James Hill (British)
Gunner John F. Hull (British)	Gunner Charles Mann (British)	Gunner Henry Worrow (British)
British records say she had a crew of 41 and 8 gunners. If this is correct, one of them may have been Ken Wilcock (see * below)
Casualties
† 3rd Engineer Rolf Bakkehaug	† Stoker Bernhard Nilsen

Norfjell Gunners
This picture was received from Martin Worrow, the son of Gunner Henry Worrow (see his Guestbook message)
On the back of the picture were the following names:
* Ken Wilcock, (Ordinary Seaman) Frank Chadwick, Charles Mann, Maurice Kennedy, George Stokes & James Hill
Martin adds:
My dad was born in London on the Banks of the River Thames in East London in 1916 and enlisted in the Army in 1939.
He was soon transferred to work as a Gunner on merchant ships, mainly oil tankers, and made many crossings of the Atlantic Ocean between the USA and Russia.

POST WAR:

Sold to Stavanger(?) in 1946 and renamed Nordfonn for Skibs A/S Ringfonn (S. Bergesen). Sold in 1957 and renamed Norsk Jarl for Mil Tankrederi A/S (Norsk Brændselolje A/S), Oslo. Sold to British Iron & Steel Corporation, London, for scrap, and allocated to P & W McLellan Ltd. Arrived at Bo'ness (Scotland) on June 27-1960 to be broken up.

External websites with info related to the text on this page:
The Empire Ships - On the "Mariners" website. Empire Saxon is listed on this page.

SL convoys and OS/KMS Convoys - The site also has a section for the Russian convoys, and a very useful Multi-Convoy Web Search feature - here's the main page. As can be seen, Norfjell is listed in Convoy SLF 107.

Those who died - The 3rd man on this list, Carpenter Ingebret Ludvik Waage died on July 14-1944 following an accident on board.

U-968 | Otto Westphalen

Back to Norfjell on the "Ships starting with N" 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 II, and misc. (ref. My sources).