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D/S Diana
Updated July 4-2011

To Diana on the "Ships starting with D" page.


Picture received from Bjørn Milde, Norway (from his own post card collection).

Manager: Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab, Bergen
Tonnage:
1155 gt, 1500 tdwt.
Dimensions: 225.2’ x 32.1’ x 13.5’.
Machinery: Triple Expansion (BMV) 139nhp 10 knots.
Call Sign: LDSS.

Delivered in March-1904 from Bergens Mek. Værksted, Bergen (125) as cargo vessel Diana to Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab, Bergen. Steel hull. Used in the company's cargo lines. As per the summer of 1939 she was in the Kirkenes-Bergen-Hamburg cargo line which the owners ran weekly together with Nordenfjeldske D/S with a total of 5 ships (alternating with 2 and 3 vessels in the line). BDS used Lynx, Leo, Neptun and Diana.

Captain: Finn Krogvig.

Her voyages are listed on this original document from the National Archives of Norway.

Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.

  Voyage Record
From Febr.-1940 to Sept.-1940:  

(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database).

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Please be aware that some of this information may be for another ship named Diana (there was also a British ship by this name).

Departure From To Arrival Convoy Remarks
1940 Febr. 28 Norwegian Waters Methil March 1 HN 15
March 11 Methil Norwegian Waters March 14 ON 19
March 22 Norwegian Waters Methil March 25 HN 21
Apr. 5 Methil Kirkwall Apr. 9 ON 25 Missing movements:
archive document
May 31 Tyne Southend June 2 FS 184 Convoy available at FS convoys
(external link)
Missing movements, archive doc above
? July 1 Methil Southend July 2 FS 209 Convoy available at link above
? July 10 Southend Yarmouth Roads July 11 CW 3 Convoy available at CW convoys
(external link)
? July 11 Yarmouth Roads Salcombe July 13 Independent
Since the above 3 voyages are not included on the archive document, accuracy cannot be confirmed.
Sept. 13 Clyde Methil Sept. 17 WN 15 Convoy available at WN convoys
(external link)
Sept. 18 Methil Blyth Sept. 21* FS 285 Convoy available at FS convoys
(external link)
*Archive doc gives arrival Blyth Sept. 19, arrived Methil Roads Sept. 21.
Sept. 22 Methil OA 218 Dipersed Sept. 27.
Convoy available at OA 218
(external link)
According to the archive document, Diana arrived Milford Haven on Sept. 26, leaving again that same day and disappeared - see "Final Fate" below.

A. Hague has also included her in the following, and I'll leave them in, but please note that the rest of this record obviously belongs to another ship (probably the British Diana).

Oct. 26 Methil Oban Oct. 30 EN 12/1 Convoy available at EN convoys
(external link)
Nov. 14 Clyde Methil Nov. 17 WN 38 Convoy available at WN convoys
(external link)
Nov. 18 Methil Hull Nov. 20 FS 338 Convoy available at FS convoys
(external link)
Nov. 22 Humber Methil Nov. 24 FN 340 Convoy available at FN convoys
(external link)
Dec. 31 Humber Methil Jan. 1 FN 371A Convoy available at link above
1941 March 3 Methil Reykjavik March 6 EN 80/1 Detached off Thurso March 4-1941.
Convoy available at EN convoys
(external link)
March 4 Methil Oban March 9 EN 81/1 Did not sail.
Convoy available at link above
Apr. 18 Spurn EC 8 Detached Apr. 21.
Convoy available at EC convoys
(external link)



 Some Convoy Voyages - 1940: 

With a general cargo for London, Diana is listed in the original document for Convoy HN 15 from Norway to the U.K. in Febr.-1940. In the middle of March, A. Hague has included her in the U.K.-Norway Convoy ON 19, and later that month, she joined Convoy HN 21, bound for Newcastle with general cargo. She subsequently joined Convoy ON 25 in order to return to Norway. She was among the ships that turned around, as the German invasion was underway upon reaching Norwegian waters - follow links for more info on this; several Norwegian ships took part in all these convoys. Diana arrived Kirkwall on Apr. 9.

She had arrived Le Havre during the chaotic days there at the beginning of June-1940. Later managed to get to the U.K., carrying part of the crew from Ellavore, which had been hit by a bomb on June 10. Others obtained passage with Lotos.

Subsequent voyages are shown on the archive document.

 Final Fate - 1940: 

Diana had arrived Milford Haven on Sept. 26-1940; according to A. Hague, she had sailed in Convoy OA 218, which had left Methil on Sept. 22 and also included Mathilda, Nyland and Tricolor - ref. link provided in the table above. Diana left Milford Haven again alone that same day for Plymouth with a cargo of coal and disappeared with her 17 crew, among them 2 British and 1 Swedish seaman.

On Oct. 7 and 8 debris and a lifebelt marked "BDS Diana Bergen" was found, then on the 17th a lifeboat marked "Diana Bergen" was found on the cliffs between Llansallos Bay and Pencarrow Head.

The assumption is that she must have struck a mine, as there are no German records indicating she was sunk, and the weather is also an unlikely cause. This happened around the time the Germans had started to place a new type of mines in British waters; accoustic mines that detonated from the sound impulses from the propellers of passing ships.

Crew List - No survivors:

Casualties

Captain
Finn Krogvik

1st Mate
Einar H. Knudsen

2nd Mate
Halvard B. Haugland

Carpenter
Ingvald Sivertsen

Boatswain
Johan Sandvik

Able Seaman
Henning Gothart Lindquist
(Swedish)

Able Seaman
Ludvig Karlsen Berg

Ordinary Seaman
Johannes Hole

Chief Engineer
Johan Tveiten

2nd Engineer
Olaf A. Erlandsen

Donkeyman
Nils V. O. Wilhelmsen

Stoker
Ansgar Ophus

Stoker
Ivar Takle

Trimmer
Ernest Dobsen
(British - Born 1921)

Steward
Alfred J. Malkenes

Cook
Odvar E. Riise

Messboy
James Larkin
(British - Born 1925)


Related external link:
Stavern Memorial commemorations
- Norwegians only.

Back to Diana on the "Ships starting with D" page.

Other ships by this name: There was also a Dutch Diana, a small coaster of 313 gt, which struck a mine and sank with the loss of 5 crew in the Bristol Channel on Jan. 18-1941 (voyage from Newport to Watchet). A Swedish steamer by this name was bombed and sunk by British aircraft on March 5-1944, north of Borkum, Germany, while an Italian steamship named Diana (the former Greek Maid of Samos, seized by the Italians) was torpedoed and sunk by a British submarine off Imperia on Apr. 12-1944. Norway had also had a seal catcher by this name as far back as 1871, 220 gt. Sold to Scotland in 1891. (Derived from misc. sources, incl."Dictionary of Disasters at Sea during the Age of Steam - including sailing ships and ships of war lost in Action 1824-1962" by Charles Hocking and "Damp - Dampskipets æra i Vestfold", Per Jonassen & Bernt Eggen). Additionally, "The Comprehensive Guide to Shipwrecks of the East Coast 1918 to 2003" by Ron Young mentions a Norwegian steam collier named Diana, 1119 gt, built in Bergen in 1899 for William Hansen & Co., Bergen. Torpedoed and sunk by the German UB 108 on June 7-1918, when on a voyage in convoy Newcastle-Cherbourg with coal, crew of 19. She had been requisitioned by the Admiralty and was sailing under the British flag at the time. Lillesand Sjømannsforening has info on a Diana built in 1948 - external link.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum). Technical details and pre war info were received from T. Eriksen, Norway (his sources: Articles about BDS in "Skipet" 1-2.88, Dag Bakka Jr., and "Norges eldste Linjerederi, BDS 1851-1951", Wilhelm Keilhau). For more book details, please refer to My Sources page.

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