M/S Sophocles - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

Related item on this website:
My Norwegian Guestbook has a message from the daughter of someone who served on Sophocles, Kristian H. Buen. He also served on Elsa. If anyone knew him, I can provide her E-mail address via my contact address given at the bottom of this page.

Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

Misc. Convoy Voyages – 1940-1945:

More convoy information will be added.

Sophocles, with steel, lumber and general for Liverpool, was scheduled for Convoy HX 64 as well as for HX 65 in Aug.-1940, but did not sail. She later joined Convoy HX 75 on Sept. 21, and the following month she shows up in Convoy OB 233, which left Liverpool on Oct. 23 and dispersed on the 27th, available via the external link provided at the end of this page. No destination is given for Sophocles, but according to Page 1 of the archive documents, she arrived Montreal on Nov. 4. She headed back to the U.K. later that month with Convoy HX 91, bound for Newcastle with general cargo, joining the convoy from Sydney, C.B. - other Norwegian ships also took part in these convoys, as will be seen when following the links. Cruising order/Commodore's notes are also available for HX 91.

In Sept.-1941 she was in Convoy HX 151 from Halifax. She left port at 12:41 on Sept. 22 according to a convoy list that has been sent to me, and was initially given station 103, but she must have had some kind of a problem because she left the convoy at 14:50, anchored south of St. George's, then later sailed on independently. It appears the British Clan Mactavish then moved into station 103. Other Norwegian ships in this convoy were Sama (in station 85), San Andres (105), Meline (43), Morgenen (93), Belinda, Dagrun (54), Thorshøvdi (53), Tigre (44), Hardanger (94), Leiv Eiriksson (24), and Laurits Swenson (it says Swenson, but I assume it should be Laurits Swenson), all listed on this website. In Oct.-1941 we find her in station 35 of the westbound Convoy ON 30, which originated in Liverpool on Oct. 26 and dispersed Nov. 9 - see also the Commodore's narrative. Sophocles was bound for Montreal on that occasion, and according to Page 2 of the archive documents she arrived her destination on Nov. 13, having started out from Belfast Lough on Oct. 27.

At the end of May-1942 she can be found in Convoy HX 192 from Halifax to the U.K., and in July that year she made a voyage to Capetown, having joined Convoy OS 33 (station 44), which left Liverpool on July 1. Please go to the external website that I've linked to below for a lot more information on the passage of this convoy. It looks like Sophocles, carrying a cargo of military stores, joined from Belfast Lough; she arrived Table Bay on July 27 - see Page 3. Other Norwegian ships were Jenny, Maloja and Ingria.

According to a personal story written by an able seaman who joined this ship in Bombay in Apr.-1944 she had at that time been in Bombay for a couple of years* waiting for replacement parts so that she could be repaired (not sure why she needed repairs). She could then finally head back to sea with first stop Aden, then around South Africa to Brazil, going by Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande du Sul and Santos. She left Santos on Aug. 23, arriving London at the end of Sept.-1944 with a cargo of canned goods, linters, rice, coffee, salted hides, pine, cotton, leather, cotton waste, hair, and 3 passengers, Convoy SL 170 / MKS 61. The SL portion of this convoy had left Freetown on Sept. 8-1944, joined up with the MKS portion from Gibraltar on Sept. 18, and arrived Liverpool on Sept. 26. Belnor, Novasli and Somerville also took part, Belnor having joined from Gibraltar with the MKS portion, while the others had started out from Freetown. More convoy information is available via the external link below. MKS 61 will also be added to my own site; in the meantime, see the section listing ships in all MKS convoys.

* Though she had not been in Bombay for as long as "a couple of years" this corresponds with the information found on Page 3 of the archive documents, where the last voyage mentioned for 1942 is when she left Aden on Sept. 11 for Fremantle. There must be a voyage missing here, because she's said to have put back to Aden on Oct. 4-1942. The next voyage is for March 22-1943 when she left Aden in tow for Bombay, arriving Bombay on Apr. 4, and did not leave again until June 17-1944, with arrival Aden on June 25. The subsequent voyages listed agree on the whole with what the able seaman states.

Towards the end of Oct.-1944 she's listed in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 261, with destination New York, heading back to the U.K. on Nov. 24 with Convoy HX 322 from New York, general cargo for London. She later joined the westbound Convoy ON 274*, departing Southend on Dec. 23-1944, arriving New York on Jan. 8-1945.

On Jan. 28-1945 we find her in the New York-U.K. Convoy HX 335, bound for Liverpool with general and explosives, returning with the westbound Convoy ON 287*, which left Southend on Febr. 25-1945 and arrived New York on March 14. In March/Apr.-1945 she served as Commodore Vessel for Convoy HX 347, which left New York on March 29 and arrived Liverpool on Apr. 14 (Commodore R.G. Bruusgaard, Royal Norwegian Navy). This convoy is not available to me, but can be found at the external site that I've linked to below. She subsequently joined the westbound Convoy ON 299* (departure Southend Apr. 26, arrival New York May 13).

Further voyages (up to and including Apr.-1946) are listed on Page 4. As will be seen, she got to go home to Norway in Sept.-1945.

* The ON convoys will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course, along with further details on each - in the meantime, see the section naming ships in all ON convoys.

Related external link:
OS/KMS Convoys - There's a lot of information on Convoy OS 33 in particular. There's also a section on SL/MKS convoys and SL 170/MKS 61 is included. Another section of the site has OB 233 and HX 347, both mentioned in the above narrative.