D/S Tautra

To Tautra on the "Ships starting with T" page.


Source: Bjørn Milde's postcard collection.

Further to the above:

(Only a few of her voyages are mentioned here - for information on voyages in between those discussed below, please go back to the Voyage Record).

As can be seen, there are some long gaps in the above voyages in places - perhaps some voyages are missing from the record(?)

Tautra is listed in Convoy HN 9A from Norway to the U.K. in Jan.-1940. Early in March she headed in the other direction with the U.K.-Norway Convoy ON 17A, and at the end of that month, shortly before the German invasion of Norway, she joined Convoy HN 22, bound for Rochester with a cargo of pulp, thereby ending up in Allied control. As will be seen by clicking on the links, several Norwegian ships took part in all these convoys.

In June-1940 she's listed in Convoy OA 161, departing Southend on June 3. This convoy joined up with Convoy OB 161 on June 5, the combined convoy forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 32*. However, Tautra was only bound for Portland, later joining Convoy OA 166, which had originated in Southend on June 11, joined up with OB 166 on the 13th, forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 33*. Tautra's destination is given as Barry on that occasion, so she was not part of the OG convoy. Towards the end of that month we find her, with destination Pugwash, in Convoy OB 174, which had originated in Liverpool on June 25 and dispersed on June 30. All these convoys are available via the external links provided within the Voyage Record. Tautra later headed to Halifax, where she arrived independently on July 19. Although she's not included on the convoy form for the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 59, there's mention of her in the notes as having lost touch with this convoy on the same night as it left Halifax on July 19-1940, and she's also included in the Advance Sailing Telegram for this convoy (scroll down on my page about HX 59). According to the Voyage Record, she arrived Clyde independently on Aug. 3. About a month later she joined convoy OA 210, which dispersed on Sept. 10, Tautra arriving Sydney, C.B. independently on the 21st. She was scheduled to return with the Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 7 in which Snefjeld and several others were sunk in Oct.-1940, but instead joined the next convoy, SC 8, cargo of pit props for Tyne.

* See ships in all OG convoys (OG 32 and OG 33 will be added to individual pages on my site in due course - note, however, that Tautra is not included in any of these).

As can be seen from the above table, she now made several voyages around the U.K. for the rest of that year, as well as all through the following year (except for a voyage to Iceland and back in July/Aug.-1941), and also through 1942 and well into 1943, until she in May-1943 sailed to Gibraltar (subsequently remaining in that part of the world for the rest of the war). In May/June-1943 she shows up in Convoy KMS 15, bound for Algiers, where she arrived on June 4. This convoy will also be added to an individual page in my Convoys section, with more information on it - in the meantime, please see my section listing ships in all KMS convoys. At the beginning of Sept.-1943 she's mentioned in connection with Convoy MKS 23 - scroll down to the second table on that page. According to the Voyage Record she arrived Algiers on Sept. 2. At the end of Oct. that same year she made a voyage from Malta to Bizerta with Convoy MKS 29, and early in Dec. we find her mentioned in Convoy MKS 33 - again, scroll down to the second table on the pages for both these convoys. Tautra arrived Bizerta from Malta on Dec. 8.

I also have a little snippet of information stating that Tautra was in Augusta on July 9-1944, leaving that day for an unknown destination. In fact, according to the above record, she left Augusta for Bizerta on July 8-1944.

POST WAR:

Returned by Nortraship to owners on Oct. 1-1945, continued in North Sea service. Sold in Apr.-1956 to Societa Rosamaris di Navigazione (Francesco Longobardo), Messina, Italy, renamed Rosasicula. Registered in Palermo 1961. Ran aground near Ras el-Tin on July 7-1962, on a voyage Ravenna-Alexandria with fertilizer. Wreck broke in two on Dec. 22-1962, broken up locally.

Related external link:
Misc. convoys - By clicking on "Ship Search" on the left hand side, using "Tautra" as keyword, several convoys will come up. I've linked directly to them within the above Voyage Record table.

Back to Tautra on the "Ships starting with T" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Misc. sources, including: "The World's Merchant Fleets", R. W. Jordan, pre war info received from T. Eriksen, Norway - his source: Article about Torkildsens Rederi in "Skipet" 2.2003 by Dag Bakka Jr. - and misc. other.