D/S Norse King

To Norse King on the "Ships starting with N" page.

Casualty List

Some War Voyages:

Rescued 4 men from a lifeboat from the British ship S/S Bradfyne (Convoy SC 11, see Bruse) on Nov. 25-1940 and took them to Belfast. Norse King was not actually in Convoy SC 11 herself, but is listed as sailing in Convoy SL 54, which arrived Liverpool from Freetown on Nov. 26. Norse King's destination was Belfast. See the external website that I've linked to below for more info on this convoy, in which the Norwegian Evita and Lincoln Ellsworth also took part.

The same website has her as bound for Halifax in Convoy OB 295, which left Liverpool on March 8-1941. She returned to the U.K. the following month with the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 29, cargo of pig iron and scrap iron for Hull, station 52.

In Aug.-1941 we find her in Convoy HX 144 (station 15) along with the Norwegian Polartank (station 95), Orwell (station 54), Hallanger (station 53), Eidanger (station 83), Havprins (station 82), Grena (station 73), Evanger (station 84), Suderøy (station 63), Vinland (station 66) and Sommerstad (in station 93, all listed on this website). Norse King returned to the U.S. in Sept. with the westbound Convoy ON 19, bound for New York, station 76. In Nov. that same year she shows up in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 54, general cargo for Hull.

In Febr./March-1942 she's listed among the ships in Convoy SC 71, bound for Leith and Hull with a general cargo.

Norse King collided with the Dutch freighter Ferdinand Bol on July 29-1942, while in Convoy HS 35. More details on this collision are available on Page 2. Both ships had been scheduled to join Convoy SC 94 from Sydney, C.B. to the U.K. In Sept.-1942 Norse King shows up in Convoy SC 99 from Halifax (having been cancelled from Convoy SC 97).

Related external link
SL Convoys - There's also a section on the OB convoys. As will be seen, Norse King is listed in Convoy SL 54 and OB 295.

Final Fate - 1942:

Norse King left Belfast in convoy ON 154 on Dec. 19-1942 with a cargo of 5400 tons coal for Boston. Convoy consisted of 45 ships escorted by a Canadian destroyer and 5 corvettes. More than 20 U-boats assembled for the attack. Between Dec. 27th and 29th a great number of ships went down and 1 U-boat (U-356) was sunk. According to the book "Ravnefjell", written by the mate/radio operator on that ship, Peder Kr. Nilsen, Norse King was ordered to take on the role of rescue ship, after the designated rescue vessel Toward had taken on board as many as 164 survivors from the various torpedoed ships, and for safety reasons was ordered by the Commodore to refrain from further rescue work (probably on Dec. 27), see also the text under Ravnefjell and Fana. Norse King was herself hit on the evening of the 28th by a torpedo from U-591 (Zetzsche), and damaged in position 43 27N 27 15W. The crew was rescued by the escort, which stayed close to the Norse King, and when it appeared to be repairable the crew rowed on board again, started the engine and headed for the Azores. D/S Veni indicated the next morning that she had seen Norse King in position 43 35 (25?)N 27 18W with a speed of 6 knots and her boats swung out. That was the last seen of her and her crew (some sources say 38 were on board, others 35). One of my Norwegian sources says that German reports state that Norse King was torpedoed again on that same day (Dec. 29) by U-435 (Strelow), and then shelled. Those reports say nothing about the Norwegian crew, and the U-boat also went down half a year later.

A response to a query I posted to my Ship Forum states that Norse King left Swansea Dec. 14-1942, arrived Milford Haven the next day, departed on the 17th for Belfast Lough where she arrived the following day, then left that same day for Boston. Here is also a response to a query I posted on Uboat.net's forum.

Arnold Hague (The Allied Convoy System) claims that Norse King was torpedoed and sunk by U 225 and U-435 on Dec. 29, while Rohwer agrees with the U-boats and dates in my text above. Rohwer lists the Norwegian Ingerfem among stragglers from ONS 154, this is incorrect; she was in Convoy ONS 156, or ON 156 to be correct. Technically the term ONS is incorrect, it should be ON 154, as the ONS series didn't start until March-1943 (with ONS 1), but the slower convoys were often referred to as ONS before that time.

IF the statement that Norse King was assigned as rescue ship is correct, I'm wondering whether she also might have had some rescued seamen from other vessels on board at the time she was sunk? This might explain the differing numbers found in various sources. The Stavern Memorial has 30 Norwegians listed, Barbara Mumford (see the link below) lists 37 all total, and she has also received a list that originated from the Norwegian State Archives with a total of 35 names, all crew (28 Norwegians, the rest of other nationality).

Crew List - No survivors:
From Barbara & Gordon Mumford's website. Part of her list came from the Stavern Memorial. I have since compared it to what can be found in "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I, and adjusted the names accordingly. These men were Norwegian, unless otherwise noted.

Casualties
† Captain Lorentz Tvedt	† 1st Mate Konrad Næss	† 2nd Mate Kim Schrøder	† 3rd Mate Svein Bottolfsen	† Radio Operator Robert Hugh Squier* (Essex, England age 25)	† Radio Operator Knut K. Abrahamsen
† Boatswain Bjarne Sundfær (Sundfør?)	† Carpenter Hans H. Lande (Landa?)	† Able Seaman Tor M.P. Søreng	† Able Seaman Erik Johansen (Marstal, Denmark)	† Able Seaman Henry J. Olsen	† Able Seaman Gustav Larsen
† Able Seaman Torleif Steen	† Able Seaman Jonny Pettersen	† Able Seaman Frederick Valentine Sutcliffe* (Chiswick, England age 24)	† Able Seaman Svein Røvik	† Ordinary Seaman Johannes Hemmingstad	† Ordinary Seaman Terrence Forde * Tredegar, Wales [or Somerset?] age 22)
† Ordinary Seaman Alf Holnes	† 1st Engineer Harald Bjørnstad	† 2nd Engineer Håvard Hansen	† 3rd Engineer Olav O. Klepp	† Donkeyman Tønnes P. Meling	† Stoker Ingar Gullsten (listed as Steward at Stavern)
† Stoker Olav Jacobsen	† Stoker Halvor Skau	† Oiler Karl Ivar Delingsrud	† Oiler Leif Steinsund	† Oiler Lars P. Thomassen	† Oiler Gustav Norenes
† Oiler Bjørn Olsen	† Steward Hilmar Helland	† Cook Kaare M. Jensen	† Galley Boy Douglas Frederick Barnes * London - age 16)	† Messboy Walter S. May * (British - age 16)	† Saloonboy Russel Barry * (Plymouth, England age 18)
† Gunner Kenneth V. J. Deacon * (British - Age 22)

Related external links
More on those who died - 30 Norwegians are commemorated at this memorial for seamen in Stavern, Norway.

ONS 154 Memorials - Names of those lost from the ships in this convoy, incl. Norse King, a section of Barbara & Gordon Mumford's website Battle of the Atlantic - Convoy ONS 154 which describes the battle in great detail. This list also has the next of kin of the casualties and info on memorials.

ONS-154, 26-30 Dec 1942
U-591
U-435 | Siegfried Strelow

There's a book about ONS 154 entitled "The convoy that nearly died" by Henry Revely - available from amazon.com among others.

To Norse King 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", Volume II, Norwegian Maritime Museum, and misc. others for cross checking facts as named within the above text - ref. Sources/Books.