Potentilla - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

5 British built, Flower class corvettes were taken over by the Norwegian Navy in Gt. Britain. They were Montbretia, Eglantine, Acanthus and Rose in 1941, and Potentilla in Jan.-1942. The Norwegian navy was to be responsible for supplying the crews, their salary, food and uniforms, while other expenses were to be paid by Royal Navy. They were used as escorts in the North Atlantic and carried out over 80 attacks against U-boats. When Potentilla was returned to Royal Navy in March of 1944, she was replaced by a Castle class corvette, which was named Tunsberg Castle under the Norwegian flag. Buttercup, also Flower class, was transferred after the loss of Tunsberg Castle in 1944. See individual links for details on each corvette.

Misc. Escort Duties:

In July-1942 she's listed among the escorts for Convoy HX 200 (as are Montbretia and Acanthus), which arrived Liverpool on Aug. 7-1942. Potentilla subsequently escorted Convoy ON 122 (Aug.-1942), together with the British destroyer Viscount, as well as Montbretia, Eglantine and Acanthus. Several U-boats attacked during the night of Aug. 24/25, and sank 4 ships; 3 British (Katvaldis 3 died, Sheaf Mount 31 died, Empire Breeze 1 died) and the Norwegian D/S Trolla of Trondheim, which sank in 48 55N 35 10W, torpedoed by U-438 (Franzius). 17 survivors from the Trolla were taken on board the Potentilla.

Potentilla, Montbretia, Acanthus, and Eglantine are also listed as escorts for Convoy HX 205, which left Halifax at the end of August and arrived Liverpool on Sept. 11-1942. I'm not sure exactly when they joined, but for info, according to Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System", the westbound ON 122 had been dispersed on Sept. 3, and according to the Commodore's notes for HX 205 "Escort was met at 09:00 on Sept 2 in 46 46N 51 10W", presumably referring to the ocean escort?

In the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren", Issues No. 1 and No. 3 for 1977 two articles have been included, one describing the events surrounding Convoy SC 104, and the other an account of Convoy ONS 144, both from Potentilla's viewpoint. (Please note that the correct term for Convoy ONS 144 is ON 144, as the ONS convoys were not established until 1943; the highest number for the ONS convoys was ONS 51). I'm unable to tell what year these articles were written and, therefore, I'm not sure if all the information is correct (new facts may have surfaced since then). Where an error is spotted I've added the correct information in parenthesis. The articles are signed Thorleif Tobiassen who has used the SSH Veterans Magazine for reference, and they're both written in the "first person" form, but I'm not sure whether T. Tobiassen was himself an eye witness on board Potentilla. The article dealing with Convoy ON 144 can be found in my text under Montbretia, while a summary of the account on Convoy SC 104 follows below.

Convoy SC 104:

Convoy SC 104, consisting of 48 ships sailed from New York on Oct. 3-1942, escorted by escort group B6 (British destroyers Viscount and Fame, Norwegian corvettes Potentilla, Acanthus, Montbretia and Eglantine). Weather was bad, with gale force winds and very rough seas, and due to the violent movements of the corvette the effectiveness of the radar and asdic sets were greatly reduced. The men were called to their action stations in the early hours of Oct. 13, 16 men manning the depth charge throwers (Potentilla is referred to as a "Bangor class" here). The first attack came at 04:25 and the Norwegian D/S Fagersten started to sink. Half an hour later the Norwegian D/S Senta and the British Ashworth were hit, going down in seconds with all hands. Due to the bad weather the U-boats got away undetected. At daybreak Potentilla was ordered to search for survivors and a lifeboat with 10 men from Fagersten was sighted, while their 2nd lifeboat with 19 on board was nowhere to be seen. Several U-boats were sighted in the course of the day, moving away at high speed (an attempt to lure the escorts away from the convoy?) and only Eglantine came close enough to fire a few rounds.

At 22:15 the British Susanne was torpedoed and sunk (this was in fact the American Susana, date given in other sources for the attack on these ships is Oct. 14; I'm not sure which time zone is used for the account in these articles), 15 minutes later the British Southern Empress was hit but stayed afloat. The U-boat which carried out this attack was sighted by Viscount and brought under fire, then depth charged and "surely went to the bottom" (this was U-221, which also sank Fagersten, Senta, Ashworth and Susana, but this boat was not sunk until Sept. 27-1943). At 23:30 the Nelle went down and shortly afterwards the Greek Nikolina Matkovik (the latter was in fact Yugoslavian, Nelle should be Nellie, which was Greek). Southern Empress was listing heavily so Potentilla was assigned to escort her as she proceeded, but at 01:30 the whale factory was hit by another 2 torpedoes and sank in 5 minutes. An hour later the British Empire Mersey was sunk. Potentilla rescued at least 80 from Southern Empress, many of whom were passengers and survivors of previous sinkings. (This ship was manned mostly by Norwegians; among her casualties were her captain Olaf K. Hansen and another Norwegian, Helge Dahl). The captain and 4 stokers from Nikolina Matkovik were found on a raft, and a lone man was found on another raft but as he spoke no English his identity was not known.

On the 15th U-619 (incorrect, this should be U-661) was rammed by Viscount and sunk with all hands at 01:45, but Viscount was now out of action with her bow stoved in and was escorted back to the convoy by Potentilla. While this took place radar contact with a U-boat on the surface was established and Potentilla gave chase. The conning tower could clearly be seen and Potentilla opened fire at about 400 yards away, causing the boat to crash dive. "This must have been a sure kill, as the U-boat's periscope scraped along our bottom in the same moment we fired a pattern of 10 depth charges. An hour later the same thing happened anew: A U-boat dived in front of us, the periscope scraped along our bottom and for the second time this morning a pattern of 10 depth charges were dropped squarely on his back." (According to U-boat net Potentilla and Eglantine damaged the U-254, but no U-boat was sunk in this case).

Since the sinking of Fagersten the men on Potentilla had been continuously at their action stations or busy rescuing survivors, and the wear on them was beginning to show. They had no place to rest up because their bunks were occupied by the wounded, and by that time they had almost 100 men scattered all over the messdecks, resulting in a very crowded situation on a ship intended to accomodate 70. As the weather improved the next morning 35 survivors were transferred to Suderøy by the whale factory's crew, and "we now witnessed the perfect seamanship and perfect handling of the lifeboat. It was obvious that every man here knew exactly what to do." The following day another 36 survivors were transferred to Suderøy, while the rest remained on Potentilla and were treated by Southern Empress' doctor. (This doctor had all the brass buttons ripped off and stolen off his coat, which had been hung in the fan room to dry. On arrival Liverpool it was also discovered that some items had been stolen from the ratings' chests).

During the afternoon of the 16th the Fame depth charged and blew U-353 to the surface, then rammed it, but in doing so the U-boat's hydroplane plates ripped open Fame's starboard side. 19 survivors from the boat were picked up by Fame, 20 by Acanthus which also participated in the sinking of the U-boat, 6 had died. Fame then headed for home. The last action came shortly before midnight, when a U-boat approached Potentilla at great speed. "A ramming was out of the question as the boat and the corvette approached each other on a head on collision course at a relative speed of over 30 knots, but the U-boat was hit by gun fire before it dived, and as a finale, a pattern of depth charges was dropped exactly on the spot where he dived." (According to U-boat net Potentilla did indeed damage U-571 that day - see link to U-boat net's account of SC 104 below).

Potentilla is reported to have sunk U-184 (Dangschat) when escorting Convoy ON 144 on Nov. 20 that same year, 24.25N, 45.25W. According to U-boat Net this information is incorrect; the attack was against U-264 (Looks), and did no damage.

Potentilla, Eglantine and Rose are listed among the escorts for Convoy HX 217, joining the convoy in the morning of Dec. 5-1942. Potentilla, Acanthus and Rose also escorted Convoy HX 246 in July-1943. At the end of Nov. that year Potentilla, Eglantine and Rose are mentioned among the escorts for the westbound Convoy ON 212.

POST WAR:

Scrapped at Gateshead in 1946.

Related external links:
HNoMS Potentilla
SC-104, 12 - 16 Oct 1942
ONS-144, 15 - 21 Nov 1942
U-184 | U-264

Group Wotan and the Battle for Convoy SC 104 - Article with a very detailed description of the convoy battle (a section of Rob Fisher's Home Page).