D/S Ruth I

To Ruth I on the "Ships starting with R" page.

Crew List

Some War Voyages:

Ruth I is listed as sailing in Convoy HN 19 from Norway to the U.K. in March-1940, bound for Workington with a cargo of ore. Follow the link for names of other ships taking part.

At the end of Aug.-1940 she sailed in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 2, in which the Norwegian Gro was sunk. Ruth I had a cargo of steel and scrap for Hull.

From a visitor to my website, Juan Carlos Salgado (author, and researcher of WW2 incidents related to Spain) I've received the following:
"According to Kenneth Poolman ("Focke-Wulf Condor - Scourge of the Atlantic"), on page 55, this ship was attacked and damaged on 28 January 1941 by Condors: '...Condors picked up two stragglers from Convoy SC 19. One of them, the Norwegian Ruth I, carrying a cargo of pit props, was attacked at 8.30 a.m. three hundred and fifty miles west of the Orkneys. Bombs and cannon fire damaged her superstructure, and wounded her Chief Engineer and Boatswain." (Ruth I had originally been scheduled for Convoy SC 17 which left Halifax on Dec. 23-1940, but did not sail, and had also cancelled from SC 18 on Jan. 2-1941).

This incident is also recorded in "Nortraships flåte" which says that 5 aircraft (FW 200) spotted the convoy(?) in 55 55N 13 20W, notified the U-boats in the area and attacked just before 09:30 on Jan. 28. Time given for the attack on Ruth I is given as 09:26, but no injuries are mentioned, and she was not damaged according to this source, which adds that 2(?) British ships were sunk in the attack, and when 3 U-boats reached the area late into the night another 5 ships went down. Ships sunk by U-boats in this convoy were, in fact, the Greek Aikaterini, the British King Robert and W. B. Walker, all on Jan. 29 and all sunk by U-93 - the British West Wales, sunk by U-94 on the 29th, the Egyptian Sesostris by U-106, and on the 30th the British Rushpool was sunk by U-94. (As far as I can tell, the only ship sunk by aircraft was Grelrosa - and I also believe these 2 ships were far away from the convoy itself when they were spotted - follow the link to SC 19).

In Apr.-1941 Ruth I, with a cargo of steel and lumber for Garston, was scheduled for the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 28 but did not sail - she also cancelled from the next convoy, SC 29, as well as from SC 31 and SC 32, but eventually got away with SC 33 at the beginning of June, cargo of steel and lumber, destination Portishead. The following month she was in Convoy OG 69 which departed Oban on July 21-1941 for Gibraltar, but after Inga I had been torpedoed Ruth I and 2 British ships were ordered by the Commodore to leave the convoy, and she reached her destination safely. Follow link to Inga I for more info on what had taken place in the convoy (OG 69 is available and will be added to my Convoys section).

Ruth I, cargo of iron pyrites for Mersey, was also in the Gibraltar-U.K. Convoy HG 75 in the last week of Oct.-1941. 6 German U-boats and 3 Italian submarines were waiting off Gibraltar, and the convoy battled its way through for 5 days, losing 4 Merchant ships, namely Alhama, Ariosto, Carsbreck and Ulea, all British, but Ruth I, the only Norwegian ship in the convoy, made it through yet again. The British destroyer Cossack (F 03) was also lost, according to Jürgen Rohwer, while HMS Ariguani was damaged (F-105 - formerly a merchant ship, requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to Naval fighter catapult ship).

In Jan.-1942 she can be found among the ships in Convoy SC 67 from Halifax, and in May she sailed in Convoy SC 84. In July that same year she was scheduled for the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 93 (Newfoundland portion), but did not sail. She was also cancelled from SC 94, SC 95 and SC 96, and I've checked the Advance Sailing Telegrams for SC 97 and SC 98, but Ruth I is not mentioned in any of them. She may have joined the Newfoundland portion of Convoy SC 99, but unfortunately, the AST for this convoy is not available to me, so I cannot confirm (Halifax ships only are known).

In Febr./March-1943 she was in the westbound Convoy ON 169 (Liverpool-New York City), in July-1943 she sailed in Convoy SC 136 from Halifax, and in Sept. that year we find her in the westbound Convoy ONS 18, which joined up with Convoy ON 202 and lost several ships, including Oregon Express and Skjelbred. Early in Nov.-1943 she's listed in the Sydney, C.B. portion of the eastbound Convoy SC 146, cargo of lumber for Grimsby - follow links for more details (SC 136 will be updated with more info).

Note that all westbound North Atlantic Convoys (ON and ONS), sailing in between the eastbound SC convoys mentioned on this page, are now available, and will be added to my Convoys section. Ruth I appears in the following (in addition to the westbound convoys already noted above):
Convoy ON 41 - Nov.-1941
Convoy ON 76 - March-1942
Convoy ON 104 - June-1942
Convoy ONS 29 - Febr.-1944

Final Fate - 1944:

In the period Jan./March 1944 Germany lost close to 40 U-boats in the North Atlantic. In the same time period over 100 convoys with around 3360 Merchant ships had crossed back and forth, and only 3 had been sunk, so the conventional U-boats had lost in the face of the developing defence methods of the Allies. A number of them were called back, some stayed in the North Atlantic as weather ships, while still others were kept for the convoy routes, if nothing else than to tie up the Allied battle forces.

The eastbound Convoy SC 156 had an encounter with a member of the latter group when U-302 (Sickel) attacked on Apr. 6-1944. The first ship to be hit was D/S Ruth I, with a cargo of steel, lumber and pitprops on a voyage from Halifax to Loch Ewe. The torpedo struck on the port side behind midships, and the engine room and fireroom immediately filled with water, killing 3 men there. She broke in two and within a few minutes the midships deck was in the water line, with the 2 parts sticking high up. The port lifeboat and the motorboat were destroyed in the explosion, and the starboard boat was leaking considerably but could still be used, so 17 men got into it. A "homemade" raft held the other 19 survivors.

Ruth I sank 20 mins later, position 45 05N 35 11W ("Nortraships flåte" gives 45 04N 35 20W), with lumber and props scattered over a large area of the ocean.

All 36 were picked up about an hour and a half later that morning by the British frigate HMS Chelmer. (Lt. Cdr. R. A. Cherry) where the injured were treated by the ship's doctor. On Apr. 12 they were transferred to the British rescue vessel Goodwin and landed at Gourock the next day.

The maritime inquiry was held in Glasgow on Apr. 17-1944 with the captain, the 2nd mate, the 3rd engineer and Able Seaman Iversen appearing.

Next, Sickel on U-302 turned his attention to M/T South America. These two Norwegian ships were to be Sickel's last victims. Shortly after the attack on Convoy SC 156, U-302 was sunk with all hands by the British frigate HMS Swale.

Crew List:
The 2nd mate was on watch on the bridge
Able Seaman Iversen was on lookout on the bridge, and Able Seaman by the port aft Oerlikon, just above where the torpedo struck.
The 3rd engineer was on watch in the engine room, but was just on his way up.
Jr. Ordinary Seaman Freelance was at the helm.
Gunners Wardell and Murphy were on watch by the aft gun.
The captain was asleep in his cabin.

Survivors
Captain Einar Haugland	1st Mate Knut Haavik	2nd Mate Anker Marthinsen	3rd Mate Monrad Paulsen	Radio Operator Harry Hansen	Radio Operator John Robert Dreiman (British)
Boatswain Alfred Kristensen	Able Seaman Nils Iversen	Able Seaman Albert Melberg	Able Seaman Sigurd Nilsen	Able Seaman Harald Hegle	Able Seaman Vilhelm Harkestad *
Able Seaman Arne Konrad Torgersen	Ordinary Seaman Harry Oskarsen	Ordinary Seaman William Spears (British?)	Jr. Ordinary Seaman Eric Freelance (British)	1st Engineer Sverre Pedersen	2nd Engineer Ole Hendriksen
3rd Engineer Johan M. Rossehaug	Donkeyman Andreas Johansen	Stoker Einar A. Grønvold	Stoker Johan E. Blichfeldt	Stoker Andreas Larsen	Stoker Peder Elias Follestø
Oiler W. Atkin (British)	Trimmer Bjarne Norby	Trimmer John Wilfred Gorman (Canadian)	Steward Leif Knutsen	Cook Leif Bakke	Galley Boy F. Burdall (British)
Mess Boy Arthur J. Smith (British)	Saloon Boy Alfred Wilkins (British)	Gunner James Robert Barton (British)	Gunner Francis Henry Wardell (British)	Gunner Eric Ronald Murphy (British)	Gunner Fred Robinson (British)
Casualties
† Stoker Holger Larsen	† Stoker Kai E. Seiler (Danish)	† Oiler Ernest Meekin * (British)

External websites related to the text on this page:
Casualties of Cossack - A section of the HMS Cossack Association website.

The Norwegian stoker

Operations information for U-302

U-302

Back to Ruth I on the "Ships starting with R" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Våre gamle skip", Leif M. Bjørkelund & E. H. Kongshavn, "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "The allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Norwegian Maritime Museum, Volume II, and misc. (ref. My sources).