Rose - 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.

Rose is listed among the escorts for Convoy HX 217 (as are Eglantine and Potentilla), joining the convoy in the morning of Dec. 5-1942, my page about HX 217 has more info on this convoy. Rose, Acanthus and Potentilla can also be found among the escorts for 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.

Final Fate - 1944:

Rose (Leutenant Leif Rosenvold Lund) was escorting Convoy ON 260 (see ships in ON convoys), which had departed Southend on Oct. 15-1944, when she was rammed by the British frigate Manners on Oct. 26-1944. She was hit amidships on the starboard side and was so badly damaged she sank in a few minutes. As many of the crew as the lifeboats would hold rowed towards a destroyer which picked them up, while the rest, including the captain launched the rafts and jumped overboard to swim towards them. In addition to being worried about being pulled under by the suction as the ship sank, they were also concerned about the depth charges on the afterdeck of Rose, set to detonate at a depth of 50 ft. But fortunately, leutenant Alf Tenvik had already thought of that. He had been the next-in-command on Montbretia when that ship was torpedoed and sunk in Nov.-1942 with the loss of 47 men, and "he had not forgotten that the vessel's own depth charges exploded*, making life hell for those who were in the water when she sank". With that in mind, he ran to the after deck and "secured" the depth charges, one by one. When he was done with the last one he was standing in water up to his chest, and as Rose sank he was pulled way under with her, but managed to get to the surface again and was rescued. Out of a complement of 75, 3 died, namely Helge Phill-Kristensen, Sigurd Rørvik and Petter Sørgaard. ("Krigsseileren", Issue 4 1994 - According to this article Tunsberg Castle was also one of the escorts).

* The statement above that Monbretia's depth charges had exploded among the survivors conflicts with my text under Monbretia. The source I've used for that summary indicates that the primers had been pulled out of the depth charges before she sank, thereby making them harmless. However, one of the survivors of Rose's sinking (Kristian Olsen) had also previously survived the sinking of Monbretia, and he too mentions that the depth charges exploded among them. According to him, the sinking of Rose was a case of mistaken identity, with the frigate mistaking her for a U-boat, discovering the mistake too late.

Related external link:
HNoMS Rose - Part of Uboat.net's section on allied warships.