D/S Ravnefjell - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

A French visitor to my site has told me that Ravnefjell was stopped for examination in the Caribbean sea by the French auxiliary cruiser Esterel on Apr. 14-1940 (just a few days after the German invasion of Norway), and ordered to Fort-de-France (French West Indies). Released on Apr. 23 on condition she comply with orders from London-based operating office.

In July-1940 she can be found among the ships in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 58, bound for London with general cargo (she had previously been cancelled from HX 57). In the middle of the following month she's mentioned as bound for St. John's with Convoy OA 199, but instead joined OA 201 a few days later. Ref. external links at the end of this page.

She was run into and damaged by the Swedish Axel Johnson in Convoy HX 79 on Oct. 19-1940. Ravnefjell was 1 of 7 Norwegian ships in this convoy, the others were Benwood, Sandanger, Egda, Triton, Høyanger and Thyra. The convoy departed Halifax on Oct. 8 and arrived Liverpool on Oct 23 with the loss of 12 ships, none of which were Norwegian. Ravnefjell, bound for Mersey with a general cargo in station 73, is said to have joined the convoy from Sydney C.B., as did Axel Johnson, sailing right behind her.

In Jan.-1941 she's listed in Convoy OB 272, leaving Liverpool on Jan. 10, dispersed on the 14th - again, see the link provided at the end of this page. Another section of the same site has her in station 24 of Convoy SL 70, which left Freetown on March 29-1941 and arrived Liverpool on Apr. 23. However, it looks like she did not sail, because she also shows up in the next convoy, SL 71, departing Freetown on Apr. 8. Follow the link for names of other Norwegian ships taking part.

In June-1941 she's listed in Convoy OB 336 (left Liverpool June 15, dispersed on the 25th - her destination is given as St. John, N.B.), and in Aug.-1941 we find her in Convoy HX 143, together with the Norwegian Thorshavn, Belinda, Mosli, Andrea Brøvig, Petter, Katy, Carmelfjell, Primero, Benwood and Salamis. This convoy left Halifax on Aug. 5 and arrived Liverpool on the 20th. Ravnefjell returned across the Atlantic the following month with the westbound Convoy ON 14; destination is given as Botwood, N.F., station 92. Early in Nov. that same year she joined the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 53, but returned to port and subsequently joined Convoy SC 54, general cargo for Manchester. Christmas that year was spent while in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 49*.

In March-1942 she shows up in Convoy HX 181; according to A. Hague she detached from this convoy and headed to Argentia, N.F. where she arrived on March 23, so she did not sail to the U.K. on that occasion. In fact, she did not go to the U.K. again until Aug.-1942, when she joined Convoy SC 97 in which Bronxville was sunk. Ravnefjell then returned across the Atlantic in Sept. with the westbound Convoy ON 132*, bound for Halifax, general cargo, later joining ON 136* at the beginning of Oct., presumably in order to continue from Halifax to New York. She's also mentioned in connection with the eastbound Convoy HX 213 at the end of Oct.-1942, but is crossed out on the convoy form, which probably means she did not sail. In fact, the external site below instead has her in the slow Convoy SC 109, which left New York on Nov. 9 and arrived Liverpool on the 30th - this convoy is not available on my own site. She's also crossed out in the convoy form for the westbound Convoy ON 152 in Dec. that year. For several years I have suspected that Ravnefjell instead joined Convoy ON 154 later that month (Dec.-1942). In an article in "Krigsseileren", Issue 4/1989 Captain Knudsen of Fana describes a voyage that ship took part in, mentioning the disappearance of Norse King, and also says Ravnefjell was in the convoy. Knudsen's story, coupled with what is found in the book "Ravnefjell", written by 1st Mate/Radio Operator Peder Kr. Nilsen lead me to this tentative speculation, and I can now confirm that I was right - please scroll down to the list of ships in Convoy ON 154 posted on this page. I will add this convoy to its own individual page in due course, with the ships in their proper stations. Arnold Hague says this convoy departed Liverpool on Dec. 18-1942 and arrived New York on Jan. 12-1943.

In his book Nilsen (previously of Beaulieu) says they left the U.K. for the U.S. on Dec.19-1942. Some of the ships were bound for the Mediterranean and Africa and were to leave the convoy at a point north of the Azores. Others, including Ravnefjell, had the U.S. as their destination. Captain Knudsen of Fana and Peder Kr. Nilsen both say the convoy was attacked on Christmas Eve, but other sources indicate the first attack took place on Dec. 27. Nilsen says they approached the position in which the Africa bound vessels were intended to leave the convoy on Dec. 27, but according to Fana's captain's story their departure from the convoy was delayed due to the U-boat attacks. Rescue ship was initially Toward, but when she had picked up 164 survivors from the various torpedoed ships, she was ordered by the Commodore to refrain from further rescue work, whereupon other ships in the rear of the convoy were ordered to take over as rescue vessels, Norse King being one of them. Ravnefjell was moved from her original station of No. 31 to a new station in the rear that evening, also for rescue purposes.

Nilsen describes the sinking of several ships, and also mentions seeing James Hawson at the rear, as well as another Norwegian ship which they at the time simply referred to as "Merry Christmas" because she had come alongside on Christmas Eve to wish them a merry Christmas in Norwegian (No. 2 in the column). He mentions the Commodore ship going down, then the Vice Commodore ship, as well as all the other vessels in the front, including "Merry Christmas". Not sure which ship this could be; as far as I can tell no Norwegian ship was lost from this convoy other than Norse King. It's possible that the ship was actually British, but had some Norwegian crew members on board. By this time James Hawson had advanced to the very front, one position at a time, replacing the vessels in front of her as they were hit and sunk. Only 2 ships were now left in the 3rd column, namely Ravnefjell and one of the Cunard Line ships. He says all the ships in the port column (Africa bound) were still intact at that time, but not for long, as one after the other got its final blow, and being as most of them had ammunition in their holds there wasn't much need for rescue operations. Fana was eventually the only ship left in that column. By the time the remnants of the convoy reached New York only 10 ships were left (Fana had gone on to Bathurst).

The links at the end of this text will describe the convoy battle and also give the names of all the ships sunk, so I won't go further into that here.

I posted a query to my Ship Forum with regard to Fana and Ravnefjell a while back, which produced several responses, one of which said the following: 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. Ravnefjell arrived Glasgow on Nov. 29-1942, left on Dec. 7, arrived Clyde Anchorage the next day, then departed on the 18th for New York, arriving on Jan. 12-1943 (corresponding with the dates given for ON 154 in "The Allied Convoy System" by Arnold Hague). Fana left Liverpool on Dec.17-1942, arrived Bathurst on Jan. 14-1943 (conflicts with the captain's story). Left Bathurst on the 22nd to arrive Freetown on the 25th, then departed on the 30th, arrived Sherbro but date not known, departed at an unknown date for Freetown arriving there on Febr. 3-1943. Left again on Febr. 10 for Bathurst where she arrived on the 13th. It appears she departed Bathurst for a local voyage that same day, the poster says she arrived up river at an unknown date, departure date not known, but arrived Bathurst again on Febr. 19, to depart for the return trip to the UK on Febr. 26. He adds "this vessel was not in the same convoy as the Norse King or Ravnefjell, it's just a coincidence that all three vessels sailed around the same date", however, they are both indeed listed in Convoy ON 154.

Many sources (including Rohwer) also list Ingerfem as being in Convoy ON 154, but this is incorrect; she left Loch Ewe in ballast for Halifax on Christmas Eve-1942 and could, therefore, not have been in this convoy - she was in ON 156*.

Some of Ravnefjell's crew (she had a complement of 20):
Captain at this time was Nikolai Breivik Rød (while Captain Peder Steinsvik was on leave)
Chief Engineer Ola Johannessen
2nd Engineer Bertrand Larsen
2nd Mate Andreas Semb
3rd Mate Lars Hopland
Boatswain Magnar Andreassen
Able Seaman Backman.

After this voyage Ravnefjell had to go into Bethlehem Steel Drydock in Brooklyn for various repairs, and wasn't ready to sail again for 3 weeks, so the crew got a rest from the terrifying Atlantic crossings for a while, before again heading out, with TNT in her holds, this time in Convoy SC 121 (Febr. 23-1943) in which the Commodore ship Bonneville and several others were sunk. Ravnefjell's sistership Harpefjell was also in this convoy, both with ammunition. Nilsen wrote a several pages long report to the authorities about this voyage in 1943 and this is included in the book in its entirety. I will write up a summary of it and post it here as soon as I can. In the meantime, follow the link to this convoy, as well as to my page about Bonneville for a detailed description of events.

I might add here that in my opinion the book "Ravnefjell" is a marvellous little book, and highly recommended (if you understand Norwegian), ISBN 82-05-05940-3 or 82-05-05941-1. Ref. my Books page for links to antiquarian bookstores on the Internet where it might be available.

At the beginning of Apr.-1943 we find Ravnefjell in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ONS 2*, returning to the U.K. the following month in Convoy SC 130 from Halifax, then in June she went back to the U.S. again with Convoy ONS 10*. At the end of July that same year she shows up in Convoy SC 138, again in the company of several other Norwegian ships, and in Aug. she sailed in Convoy ONS 16*, joining from Iceland.

* All the ON and ONS convoys mentioned here 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 and the section naming ships in all ONS convoys. Note that the external site that I've linked to below has some more convoy information for Ravnefjell, including some 1944 and 1945 voyages. As will be seen, she made some voyages from Cristobal to Guantanamo in this period (ZG convoys), among several others.

POST WAR:

Collided with the American passenger vessel S/S City of Cleveland III in thick fog off Harbor Beach, Michigan, in Lake Huron on June 25-1950, resulting in the loss of 5 lives and extensive damage to the American ship, and minor hull and equipment damage to Ravnefjell. She was on a voyage from Sarnia, Ontario to Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the time. The captain's name was Thorsen. Ravnefjell was temporarily repaired in Chicago. There's an 11 page, downloadable report from the court hearings in Pdf format at this (external) website: Shipwrecks and Casualties -The Coast Guard Reports - Click on the number next to the entry for Ravnefjell to download the collision report.
Sold in 1954 to Birger Ekerholt, Oslo and renamed Ringstein. Sold to Panama in 1959.

External links related to text on this page:
OB & OA convoys - Convoy OA 199 is included. Note also that by going to this section of the same site and clicking on "Ship Search", using "Ravnefjell" as keyword, several convoys that are not mentioned in my own text will come up. (Here's Convoy OA 201, here's OB 272 and OB 336, and here's Convoy SC 109, all mentioned in my text above).

HX 79, 19 Oct, 1940 - 20 Oct, 1940

SL convoys and OS/KMS Convoys - A section of the first site above. As can be seen, Ravnefjell is mentioned in Convoy SL 70 and SL 71, as are several other Norwegian ships.

ONS 154 Memorials - Lists the names of casualties from the ships in this convoy, incl. Norse King. This is part of Barbara & Gordon Mumford's website Battle of the Atlantic - Convoy ONS 154 which describes the battle in great detail.

ONS-154, 26-30 Dec 1942