Final Fate - 1942:

Ringstad was on a voyage from Cardiff to St. John, N. B. with a cargo of 2600 tons china clay, having departed Belfast Lough on Jan. 13-1942, joining Convoy ON 56 (see link to ON convoys provided above - note that Page 2 states her destination was St. John's, N.F.). Due to several days of stormy weather she had lost touch with the convoy and was alone on Jan. 24 when she was torpedoed and sunk by U-333 (Cremer), 45 50N 51 04W (off Cape Race). She had received a radio message the day before that the Norwegian M/T Leiesten had been torpedoed about 100 miles from their position, and more or less in their intended route, so she had immediately altered course (like Ringstad, Leiesten is also listed in Convoy ON 56). According to the captain's report this new course would take them about 80 n. miles south of Cape Race and about 70 miles north of their intended route.

The torpedo struck on the starboard side between hatch No. 2 and 3, causing a powerful explosion and she sank down with the foreship. The aft port lifeboat filled with water and was ruined, but all on board got safely away in the 3 remaining boats. After Ringstad had gone down (in abt. 20 minutes) the U-boat came up; from the tower someone pointed in the direction of the nearest land, then disappeared.

The weather worsened and the boats were unable to stay together. The captain's boat (motor) with 13 on board headed northwest for 5 days, their boat completely covered in ice and constantly taking in water in the heavy seas, so they had to keep bailing. On Jan. 29 they saw smoke from a convoy far away, an escorting aircraft spotted them and sent the American destroyer Swanson to assist. The exhausted and frostbitten men were landed at Reykjavik on Febr. 5. The captain, who was sick for a year after his ordeal, assumed, based on his own experiences, that the 30 missing men in the other 2 boats had frozen to death (27 crew, 3 passengers).

See also link to the external website re USS Swanson provided at the end of this page, which includes a report on the rescue of Ringstad's survivors, as well as the names of those rescued (including the captain's dog Prinz, who was later presented to Swanson's captain) and a brief report on the sinking.

The page says the following:
"....At that time a Patrol bomber operating out of St. Johns, Newfoundland informed the Swanson there was a lifeboat to the north of the Swanson location. Course was changed to the north and the ship went to full speed. Shortly afterwards the lifeboat was visually sighted bearing 350 degrees true, approximately 12 miles distance. Of course the unspoken thought occurred to those on the bridge and certainly it must have run through the mind of the of the late Captain Kingsley that this could be an ambush. A lurking U-Boat would have a perfect target set up on a destroyer stopped dead in the water with a lifeboat alongside. As the Swanson made the approach and could see the men sitting in open lifeboat, only one man raised a hand to give a slight wave; the rest just sat there immobile. These were 13 extremely cold and exhausted men and one dog. Most of the men were suffering from frost bitten hands and feet. Only one man seemed to be able to move about a little. Swanson sailors quickly jumped down into the lifeboat to assist the men up the sea ladder which had been dropped down over the side. Small lines were attached to their life jackets and the Swanson sailors lifted and hauled these men up to the deck. They were physically incapable of climbing up the ladder. They were survivors from the Norwegian ship SS Ringstad, which was torpedoed by a German U-Boat on 24 January 1942. The temperature was 30 degrees.

The rescue was effected at Latitude 47-55 North and Longitude 50-53 West, which is 60 miles southeast of Cape Race. The rescued men were: Captain J.K. Knudstad, O.S. Olsen, L. Meen, E.C. Streton, E. Oygarden, B. Borresen, T. Eklud, O.A. Eniks, A. Egge, S. Goodwin, R.Fairey, F.W.J. Bowley, W.J. Hiton, and Prinz (Captain’s Alsatian dog.)

The Swanson then sank the lifeboat using 5”/38 gunfire.

Captain Knudstad, the Master of the SS Ringstad submitted the following report to the Commanding officer of the Swanson:
“After launching torpedoes, the attacking submarine surfaced, remaining so for approximately one half hour. Only two men were seen in the conning tower, and the submarine was believed to be of small or medium size. The submarine number was either 857 or 827. The conning officers in the submarine pointed out the course to the nearest land before submerging. Two other life boats were launched, one of which capsized while launching. The other lifeboat has not been seen since the date of torpedoing.

The following men, among others, are believed to have been in one of the other two lifeboats: Lt. Williams, Royal Navy (Special Branch), bomb disposal expert enroute to Ottawa, Canada; Sub-Lieutenant Jameson, Royal Navy (Special Branch), Canadian: William Laurie, Ordnance Seaman, (Special Branch), Canadian.

Captain Knudstad before leaving the Swanson presented his dog Prinz to Captain Kingsley, who proudly accepted the gift and upon return to the United States took Prinz to his home."

It adds: "By mid morning on Thursday 5 February 1942 the Swanson had arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland and moored alongside the tanker Rapidan to fuel. Within minutes the Hospital ship Avon Glen came alongside and the survivors from the SS Ringstad and Fredrick Heath from the SS Barrister were transferred (Barrister had been in Convoy HX 172, for which Swanson had acted as escort. Gunner Fredrick Heath had been injured by shrapnel in his chest).

The inquiry was held in Reykjavik on Apr. 25-1942 with the 2nd mate and Oiler Børresen appearing (the latter was in the engine room at the time of attack). The captain was still in the Norwegian Hospital there at that time.

Roger W. Jordan's "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939" says the torpedo came from U-335, Convoy ONS 55*, while Jürgen Rohwer agrees with U-333, adding ON 55 as the convoy (again, Ringstad is listed in ON 56). Both agree on the position given above. There might simply be a printing error with regard to the U-boat in Jordan's book(?). According to U-boat.net's information U-335 only made one war patrol, and that patrol did not start until Aug. 1-1942, the boat having been in training from 12/1941 till 7/1942. She was stationed in the Baltic. Also, Ken Dunn (a visitor to my site) has told me that according to the book "U-boat Commander - A Periscope View of the Battle of the Atlantic" by Peter Cremer himself (ISBN 0-87021-969-3), Ringstad was identified by that commander.

*Note that the ONS convoy series was not established until March the following year, but the slow ON convoys were often referred to as ONS before that time in signals and contemporary documents (continuing to be sequentially numbered), even though they were not established as such until 1943, when the numbering started with ONS 1. (In that series there was no Convoy ONS 55, the last one was ONS 51 - see my page listing ships in all ONS convoys). ON 55 departed Liverpool on Jan. 8-1942, dispersed in 44 25N 51 19W. 3 ships are said to have been sunk, the Panamanian Chepo, and the British Empire Surf, both by U-43 on Jan. 14, and the British Silveray by U-751 on Febr. 4. Note, however, that Silveray is not included in ON 55 in the section listing ships in all ON convoys - she's listed in an earlier convoy, ON 53.

Cremer says: "I submerged for an underwater attack and delivered a shot from Tube 1 (time given as 15:25, German time). The torpedo ran at three meters depth and struck. The steamer, a Norwegian by name Ringstad, stopped, settled by the bow and blew off steam. Shortly afterwards she slid stem-first into the depths." He seems impressed with the behaviour of the seamen who were "extraordinarily calm and had already dressed their wounded". He says the lifeboats were "large and well equipped, provided with a quenched-spark transmitter which they were using. We gathered they were reporting their torpedoing and exact position, so I could not stop any longer but had to make a quick get-away."

37 years later he learned more from one of the crew members' report, Oiler Roar Boye Børresen (captain Knudstad had died by then) who thought the torpedo must have hit in their china clay cargo. At the time, they intended to clean the oil tanks in order to be ready for arrival St. John the following day. They did not feel the explosion in the engine room, just a heavy bump. Fearing another torpedo the 2nd mate sent them to the lifeboats, and Ringstad sank within 20 minutes. Børresen indicates their fear of being shot when the U-boat came towards them, but instead the commander offered them food and water (which was declined), pointed them in the direction of East Newfoundland saying they were about 85 n. miles from land, wished them good luck and said he hoped they would be picked up, then disappeared. Børresen adds "he was a seaman, one of the type that we produce. He behaved according to the code of seamen who take no oath on it but know: help one another when in trouble at sea!"

Related external links:
USS Swanson's Rescue - Scroll down to "Third trip to Iceland".

Stavern Memorial Commemorations - Norwegians only

U-333 | Peter Erich Cremer