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M/S Skagerak To M/S Skagerak on the "Ships starting with S" page. Manager: Olaf Ditlev-Simonsen jr.,Oslo Built by Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen 1936. Sistership of Kattegat. Captain: According to "19 Oslo-skips historie under verdenskrigen, fra April 1940 til krigens slutt i 1945", Captain was O. Stein at the beginning of the war but he paid off in Sydney in July 1942 and Captain Sam A. Fridvold took over (the latter had previously been the captain of Eidsvold, which had been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off Christmas Island in Jan. that year). However, a visitor to my site has informed me that his father, Odd Berglund, was captain of Skagerak from March 1-1942 until July15 that year, at which time he paid off in Sydney due to illness. He had previously served on Herborg from Oct.-1937 until Jan.-1942, as 1st mate and later as captain. 1st Mate: P. Keiff. From April 9-1940 (the German invasion of Norway) until the end of the war, Skagerak had visited 173 ports, transported 368 869 tons cargo and sailed a distance of 244 684 n. miles. In the same period she had spent 1022 days, 2 hours and 50 minutes on the open sea.
New Plymouth, New Zealand Sept. 7-1945.
When Norway was invaded on Apr. 9-1940 Skagerak was in the Pacific en route to Japan with a general cargo from the U.S. Naturally, the news was received in stunned disbelief; suddenly they had no country, they could no longer get in touch with their loved ones, and little did they know at that time, as they all sat with their ears glued to the radioes, that many years would pass before they could see them again. Skagerak continued to her destination, arriving Kobe on Apr. 30, where they were met by suspicion and countless "interrogations". Skagerak had 2 more voyages to Japan (Osaka), both times carrying rice from Siam and Indo-China. Her next voyage took her to Calcutta via Miri, Borneo for bunkers. En route, when passing Singapore, she was stopped by British naval forces, but after her papers had been inspected she was permitted to continue. On her next voyage, from Calcutta to South America with jute, she encountered a vessel that had been bombed and sunk by Italian aircraft 240 n miles ahead of her, and the war suddenly came closer - she had no armament on board. But she continued on her original course and reached Cape Town (for bunkers) safely. From Cape Town she proceeded in a zig-zag course, because they had been told there were many German U-boats in the area, and also had German mines to worry about along the coast of S. Africa. She again arrived her destination (Santos) safely, later disharged cargo in Buenos Aires and Rosario, continued to Chile in ballast, then loaded niter in Tocopilla for New Zealand and Australia. On arrival Auckland, New Zealand in Dec.-1940 they learned about a German raider operating in the area. The Rangitane had been sunk, and among others, also the company's own M/S Vinni. The atmosphere on board Skagerak was rather sad as they left New Zealand on (Friday) Dec. 13. She arrived Sydney 5 days later, then continued just a few hours later to unload at Melbourne.
Skagerak now started carrying ore between Whyalla, Port Kembla and Newcastle (Au.); loading took 8 hours, unloading 18 hours. She departed Sydney in a convoy of 5 ships on Jan. 25-1941, with the cruiser Adelaide as escort. While en route they heard that a German raider was in the area, only a few n. miles from their course. Suddenly Adelaide disappeared out of sight at full speed, and 2 n. miles away she put her lights on a large vessel with 2 funnels. They all fully expected to hear canon fire, but it turned out to be a friendly vessel, identity not known. After having waited near Ocean Island for 5 days for her turn to load cargo, she was ordered to leave immediately and head for Suva, where she arrived 6 days later. (The Marshall Islands were on Japanese hands at that time, and Skagerak was within reach of Japanese bombers while off Ocean Islands, only 300 n. miles away). While at Suva on Febr. 23 that port was the victim of the worst cyclone to hit the place since 1906. Skagerak and another Norwegian ship drifted ashore, but when it was all over she was able to get refloated by herself, and found damages to be minimal. She was escorted back to Ocean Island, took on board cargo then returned to New Zealand, New Plymouth and Wanganui. At the latter port they learned about German espionage going on there. A woman acquired information on the various ships' departures, arrivals and cargoes by inviting officers to her house, asking the appropriate questions, then passing the answers on to the Germans. However, before they again departed Wanganui she had been arrested. Skagerak's next destination was Sydney with orders to take on board a cargo of wheat for Greece, but following the capitulation of that country the cargo was cancelled. They were then told to load flour, but as soon as they had gotten it all on board, they were instructed to get rid of it again, only to be told to reload it once it had all been discharged. They had almost completed this operation when they were again instructed to unload. Half of it had been unloaded when they were told to stop and wait for further orders. 3 days later they were told to get rid of all the flour and instead load a general cargo for Nauru. This had been done and she was ready to leave but developed engine problems, so again had to unload what she had just loaded. Having repaired for 15 days she headed to Newcastle, and later she carried coal, iron ore and general cargoes between Port Adelaide, Whyalla, Port Kembla, Sydney, Nauru, Ocean Island, Geelong, Sydney, Nauru, Brisbane, Nauru, Ocean Island, Lyttleton, Dunedin, Willington, Wallaroo, Whyalla, Port Kembla and Sydney. On one of her voyages from Nauru (in July-1941) she had evacuated 24 women, the wives of Phosphate Co,'s employees. (The Norwegian M/S Vito and a British ship also helped evacuate women and children - this was due to the general fear of a Japanese attack).
Skagerak continued in the same service until March-1942. In Sydney a 3" gun was installed, and she also received a Wickers machine gun for protection against aircraft attacks, before heading for Aden. On Apr. 12-1942 she struck a mine when approaching Suez and was badly damaged but repairable; no-one was killed. Not long afterwards, while at Ismalia she experienced a German air attack, but she and all the other ships around her escaped harm (contrary to a German report which said several ships had been sunk). On her trip back to Australia via Safaga for phosphates and Aden for bunkers a U-boat was spotted on May 23 and all arms manned, but nothing further came of it. Several Norwegian ships, and others, were later sunk in that very same location. She continued to Fremantle and Melbourne, then in convoy to Port Kembla. She then unloaded cargo in Newcastle (Au), continued to Sydney to pick up a general cargo for the Middle East. En route she stopped at Fremantle, Aden and Suez where she unloaded, loaded phosphates again in Safaga, from there via Aden for bunkers, and on to Geelong and Melbourne. After having unloaded there she headed to Whyalla and took on board iron ore for Port Kembla. On Nov. 15-1942 she was in a convoy of 15 ships (escorted by 6 corvettes) off the Australian coast when a Yugoslavian ship on her starboard side all of a sudden went out of her assigned spot and ended up right in front of Skagerak, causing Skagerak's bow to hit her just forward of amidships and complete chaos ensued. Skagerak was damaged, but could continue, while the Yugoslavian ship sank after about an hour, though all her men were rescued. Both ships had a cargo of iron ore at the time. It wasn't all gloom: In the chaotic maneuvers that followed this collision, one of the lifeboats from the other ship had ended up on Skagerak's deck. That evening the Chief Engineer was taking a stroll on the aft deck when he encountered a creature crawling on all fours. In the dark it was impossible to see whether it was man or beast, and it spooked him enough that he sounded the alarm, and for once the strict rule to not shine any lights while in convoy was broken. It took a while to solve this mystery, but it turned out that some of the men on board had found a keg of rum in the Yugoslavian lifeboat on deck and had decided to have themselves a party.
After 2 months of repairing the collision damages in Sydney, Skagerak made the following voyages: Melbourne, Geelong, Port Melbourne, Colombo, Madras, Calcutta, Madras, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Port Adelaide, Wallaroo, Callio, Tocopilla, Willington, Geelong, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. From the latter she went to Port Moresby via Townsville with war stores and other equipment in a large convoy escorted by Australian and American warships and aircraft. On her return voyage Skagerak sailed alone, but with aircraft escort part of the way. On Oct. 10-1943 she was 15 n. miles from Port Moresby when a powerful column of water suddenly occurred in front of them, while at the same time the ship shook violently. No vessels nor aircraft were seen nearby. The incident was reported to the naval authorities who assumed an "underwater volcano" may have erupted to cause this column of water. On a voyage from Cairns and Brisbane to Sydney, Skagerak had a very narrow escape when the passenger ship Camberra had altered course and came down on her at a 50 degree angle to her course. Through Skagerak's subsequent evasive maneuver she almost ran into a Liberty ship sailing next to her in the convoy, and the 3 ships were dangerously close for a while, but it all went well and she arrived Sydney not long afterwards and unloaded her sugar from Cairns. An amazing rendevouz with an old friend: On arrival Sydney the first creature to embark was a cat. To their utter disbelief it turned out to be one-eyed "Lord Nelson", whom they had previously lost in Port Moresby. How he had found his way to Sydney nobody could understand, but he recognized the ship, and he and his best friend, the Chief Engineer were very happy to see eachother again. Another voyage with war materials to Port Moresby was made, also stopping at Newcastle, Brisbane, Townsville, Cairns, and Gladstone, then back to Brisbane - arrived Sydney just before Christmas 1943, unloaded cargo, took on board a new one then headed to Colombo. Off Melbourne on Jan. 17-1944 a torpedo passed just behind Skagerak. The culprit was chased, so I assume Skagerak must have been in a convoy at the time, but no further details on what the result of this chase might have been. After having unloaded her cargo in Colombo she returned to Australia and subsequently made 2 voyages to Italy.
On Jan. 1-1945 Skagerak was in Port Augusta, Sicily and although the Germans were still present in northern Italy the new year was celebrated with fireworks and everything else that goes with such an occasion. All 40-50 ships in port took part with the result that the entire sky was lit up, and good wishes for the year ahead were signalled in morse code from vessel to vessel. Skagerak's cargo was discharged in Bari, which still showed clear signs of the previous explosions (see Bollsta), then continued to Bona in North Africa to pick up phosphates for Australia, then made a few voyages along the coast between western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. When the news of Japan's capitulation came, Skagerak was just off Makatea, and peace was greeted with all guns, fireworks and whistles, by all ships nearby. By then only 3 of her original crew were still on board. She had also added 6 gunners to her number to help operate her new 4" gun and 6 Oerlikons. By that time she had also added 4 rifles, some smoke floats and other defensive equipment to her armament. From Makatea she went to New Plymouth, New Zealand.
1954: J.W. Paulin, A/B Paulin Chartering O/Y- Finland Related external link: Back to M/S Skagerak on the "Ships starting with S" page. Denmark also had a ship by this name (steam) which sailed for the Ministry of War Transport from 1940, built 1921, 1283 gt - struck a mine and sank on Aug. 24-1941 on a voyage Tyne to Ipswich with coke. There's a seamen named Egdin Knudsen commemorated at Tower Hill, who might possibly be Norwegian (though he could also be Danish). More details can be found at this link. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "19 Oslo-skips historie under verdenskrigen, fra April 1940 til krigens slutt i 1945" (The story of 19 Oslo ships during WW II), Harald Nicolaisen - 1945 - (ref. My sources).
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