M/S Rio Branco

To Rio Branco on the "Ships starting with R" page.

Misc. War Voyages:

Rio Branco is listed among the ships in Convoy HX 14 in Dec.-1939. Her destination is given as Liverpool, cargo of wallboard, and she had station 42 of the convoy.

A French visitor to my website has told me that Rio Branco was seized in Antigua Isl. after Apr. 9-1940 (the German invasion of Norway). Taken over by the French submarine Vénus and arrived Fort-de-France (French West Indies) on Apr. 21, released on Apr. 23, provided complying with orders from London-based operating office.

At the end of Nov.-1941 she was scheduled for the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 57, but instead joined the next convoy, SC 58 on Dec. 4, general cargo for Liverpool.

According to the external website that I've linked to below, Rio Branco was in station 52 of Convoy OS 16 in Jan.-1942, on a voyage from Liverpool to Lagos. Several Norwegian ships are listed as being in this convoy. The same site has her in station 72 of Convoy SL 106/SLF 106, which left Freetown on Apr. 9-1942 and arrived Liverpool on May 2 (the fast section, SLF, detached on Apr. 22 and arrived Apr. 29, but Rio Branco sailed in the slow portion). Her destination is given as Belfast, cargo of lumber and palm kernels. The Norwegian Tijuca is also included.

In July-1942 she's listed in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 93, general cargo for Liverpool, and the following month we find her in station 44 of the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 122, in the company of several other Norwegian ships.

In the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren", No. 1/1985 I found the names of 16 Norwegians who are buried at Pine Ridge Cemetery, Saranac, NY. One of them was Otto Wilhelm Eriksen from Rio Branco, who died in Oct.-1942. Please go to Norwegian War Graves on my Memorials page for more information about this memorial in Saranac and the names of Norwegians buried there.

Related external link:
SL Convoys and OS and OS/KMS - The site also has a section for the OB convoys and the Russian convoys, and a very useful Multi-Convoy Web Search feature - here's the main page. As can be seen, Rio Branco is listed in OS 16 and SL 106.

Back to Rio Branco on the "Ships starting with R" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Roger W. Jordan - and misc.