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Owner: A/R Atlantic Built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Wallsend, Sunderland in 1930. Captain: Harald Hansen In Admiralty service from 1940 (Royal Fleet Auxiliary). Related items on this website: Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
As will be seen when going to Page 1 above, Sveve was in Curacao when Norway was invaded by the Germans on Apr. 9-1940 (looks like she had arrived there from Norway). She left Curacao on Apr. 21 and arrived Halifax on May 2, then on May 8, we find her in Convoy HX 41 to the U.K. (having been cancelled from the previous convoys, HX 39 and HX 40). In June, she's listed in Convoy OB 175, which originated in Liverpool on June 27 and dispersed on the 30th. Her destination is given as Carapito; according to the archive document already mentioned, she arrived Trinidad on July 15 (she had joined the convoy from off Belfast). She was in Halifax again at the end of July, joining Convoy HX 62 (see also HX 60, Bermuda portion). Sveve eventually lost touch with this convoy in dense fog - follow the link for more details. She shows up again in the Advance Sailing Telegram for HX 63, with a note saying "To be held at Halifax to await orders". She later joined Convoy HX 68 on Aug. 24. The following month, she joined Convoy OB 214, departing Liverpool on Sept. 15-1940, dispersed Sept. 18, Sveve arriving Curacao Oct. 3. She returned to the U.K. later that month in Convoy HX 81 (Bermuda portion - note that Sveve is also mentioned in the escort's report for HX 81), subsequently joining Convoy OB 241, which originated in Liverpool on Nov. 9 and dispersed on the 14th. No destination is given for her on that occasion (ref. external link below), but according to Page 1, she arrived Trinidad on Nov. 28, having started out from Clyde on the 10th. In Dec.-1940, we find her in Convoy HX 96, again joining from Bermuda, where she had arrived from Trinidad on Dec. 9. In Febr.-1941, she joined Convoy OB 289, departing Liverpool on Febr. 20, but is said to have put back with defects. She shows up again in Convoy OB 299, which left Liverpool on March 19 and dispersed on the 25th, Sveve arriving Curacao Apr. 8 - again, see the external link below for more details on the OB convoys. On Apr. 20, she joined Convoy HX 122 from Halifax, bound for Reykjavik with fuel oil, arriving there on May 4. Cruising order/Commodore's notes are also available for this convoy. From Reykjavik, she made a voyage back to Bermuda and Curacao (again, see Page 1 of the archive docs), and in June that same year she shows up in the Bermuda portion of Convoy HX 134, bound for Reykjavik with Admiralty fuel, arriving that destination on July 5. She later joined Convoy OB 347, which originated in Liverpool on July 16 and dispersed on the 31st - Sveve joined this convoy from Iceland, having sailed from Reykjavik on July 21, and arrived Trinidad on Aug. 10. From there, she now made a voyage to Freetown and back to Trinidad, then on to Halifax, and on Oct. 5-1941, we find her in station 55 of Convoy HX 153 to the U.K., along with the Norwegian Katy, Temeraire, Haakon Hauan, Ferncastle, Bonneville, Lista, Santos, and Andrea Brøvig. Going back to the external website below, Sveve can be found scheduled for Convoy OS 14 in Dec.-1941, but did not sail - she is, however, listed as bound for Trinidad in one of the westbound North Atlantic convoys that month, namely Convoy ON 48, which originated in Liverpool on Dec. 19 and dispersed on the 31st., Sveve arriving Trinidad on Jan. 8-1942 (convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section, along with further info; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys - Sveve joined from Clyde). Her subsequent voyages are listed on Page 2 - convoy information for some of these can be obtained by following the instructions provided at the external link below. She was scheduled for Convoy SL 114 from Freetown on June 25-1942, but instead joined the next convoy, SL 115, which left Freetown on July 5-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 26th; Sveve, cargo of fuel oil, station 42, stopped at Clyde that day. She had arrived Freetown from Curacao on July 3. Follow the link below for additional details on these convoys. Related external links:
Sveve departed Clyde in ballast on Sept. 4-1942 and was on a voyage from Glasgow to New York and Curacao in station 32 of Convoy ON 127 when she at 14:37 GCT on Sept. 10 was torpedoed by U-96 (Hellriegel), 51 30N 27 55W*. At the time of attack she was proceeding at a speed of 8 1/2 knots in fine weather with calm sea and very good visibility, wind southwest force 2-3.
The torpedo was seen approaching and the rudder put hard to port, but it struck 6-8 feet below the surface on the port side near No. 5 main tank (almost empty). Within 4 minutes, this tank as well as the pumproom were full of water, the summer tank beneath the port No. 5 tank was gone, as was the bottom of No. 3 summer tank, and the bulkheads to the starboard tank were blown to pieces. 20 long holes were visible in the ship's starboard side above the water line, the deck above No. 3 summer tank was torn up and cracked, the fore and aft bridge was damaged and the steering gear and cargo line were broken. All 39 (incl. 2 gunners) survived and after having examined the damages they left the ship in 4 lifeboats 20 minutes after the attack had occurred. Within an hour they were picked up by the escorting Canadian corvette HMCS Sherbrooke (K 152, Flower class, see related link below) which tried to sink her by firing about 15 shells into her. She eventually sank by the stern that evening after the valves had been opened by 4 of the corvette's crew as well as Sveve's 1st and 2nd mates, the 2nd engineer and an able seaman who had reboarded the ship. The crew was landed in St. John's on Sept. 16 and an inquiry was held there on Sept. 19-1942 with the captain, the 2nd mate (officer on watch on the bridge), Able Seaman Stang (helmsman) and the 1st engineer attending. As will be seen when going to my page about Convoy ON 127, this convoy had several Norwegian ships. See also my text for Hindanger, Daghild, Marit II and Fjordaas, as well as the external link at the end of this page to ON 127 for more info on this convoy battle. Crew List - No casualties:
Related external links: U-96 | Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel - As will be seen when going to this page on the same website, this U-boat was also responsible for the loss of other Norwegian ships (but with a different commander). Naval Museum of Manitoba - Linked directly to the RCN Ships Image Database, a picture of Sherbrooke and technical information on the corvette can be found there. Back to Sveve on the "Ships starting with S" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume II, Norwegian Maritime Museum, and misc. (ref. My sources).
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