M/S Fernplant
Updated Aug. 13-2011

To Fernplant on the "Ships starting with F" page.

All pictures were kindly received from Historical Department, MAN B&W Diesel, Copenhagen.
Their representative says that their museum (external link) has models of some ships.
Here are 2 more pictures, Pic 1, and Pic 2.
(Size and quality have been reduced to save space. Several more, very similar pics were also received).

More pictures are available on this external page (click in them to make them larger).

Helene Karoline J. Fischer Dale served as a radio operator on this ship after the war. She had previously served as stewardess on Bayard from March-1940 till Dec. that year, and on the same ship from Febr.-1941 till March-1942, before joining Laurits Swenson in the same capacity in May-1942, till July-1942. The following month she started school at Little Norway, Toronto to become a radio operator, and fresh out of school she joined Fred. Olsen's Baalbek as 2nd radio operator in June-1943 (till Sept.-1943), before signing on Alf Lindeberg in Oct.-1943 where she stayed till Dec.-1945. Just 2 days after signing off Alf Lindeberg she joined M/S Fernplant, this time as 1st radio operator, remaining with this ship until March-1946. She was later awarded Krigsmedaljen and Haakon VII Frihetsmedalje - see my Norwegian War Medals page. Many women sailed with the Norwegian fleet during the war; mostly as stewardesses or saloon girls. Norwegian ships also had several female Canadian radio operators; a list of their names can be found at the end of my page about Mosdale. (My mother was also a radio operator, though not during the war. Her ships can be found at Åse's Ships). The majority of the information on Helene Fischer Dale was received from Olive Roeckner, who herself served as radio operator on Norwegian ships (she in turn received the information from Berit Pittman, Canada). A book has been written about her experiences - see my text under Narvik.

Fernplant's voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5

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

Voyage Record From Jan.-1942 to Nov.-1945:

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Errors may exist, and several voyages are missing.

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1942	Jan. 24	Los Angeles	San Francisco	Jan. 26	Independent	A. Hague says: Previously traded in Pacific (compare w/Page 1 and Page 2)
	Jan. 27	San Francisco	Seattle	Jan. 29	Independent	–
	Febr. 6	Seattle	Balboa	Febr. 20	Independent	–
	Febr. 22	Cristobal	Trinidad	Febr. 27	Independent	See also narrative below
	March 1	Trinidad	Capetown	March 22	Independent	–
	March 23	Capetown	Aden	Apr. 7	Independent	–
	Apr. 7	Aden	Suez	Apr. 11	Independent	Missing voyages, Page 2 above
	Apr. 21	Port Said	Haifa	Apr. 22	Independent	–
	Apr. 29	Haifa	Port Said	Apr. 30	Independent	–
	May 10	Port Said	Alexandria	May 11	Independent	–
	May 17	Alexandria	Port Said	May 18	Independent	Left Port Said May 19 (Page 3).
	May 20	Suez	Aden	May 25	Independent	–
	May 25	Aden	Capetown	June 10	Independent	–
	June 19*	Capetown	Trinidad	July 11	Independent	*Page 3 gives departure June 16
	July 15	Trinidad	Key West	July 23	TAW 5	Convoy available at TAW 5 (external link)
	July 27	Key West	Hampton Roads	July 31	KN 124	Convoy available at KN 124 (external link)
	Aug. 2	Hampton Roads	New York City	Aug. 3	Independent	–
	Sept. 6	New York City	Gitmo	Sept. 12	NG 303	For Suez. Convoy available at NG convoys (external link)
	Sept. 13	Gitmo	Cristobal	Sept. 17	GZ 3	Convoy available at GZ convoys (external link)
	Sept. 18	Balboa	Capetown	Oct. 14	Independent	–
	Oct. 17	Capetown	Aden	Nov. 2	Independent	–
	Nov. 2	Aden	Port Sudan	Nov. 5	Independent	–
	Nov. 6	Port Sudan	Suez	Nov. 8	Independent	–
	Nov. 29	Suez	Aden	Dec. 3	Independent	–
	Dec. 4	Aden	Bombay	Dec. 10	Independent	Left Bombay Dec. 10 (Page 3).
	Dec. 21	Bombay	Colombo	Dec. 24	Independent	–
1943	Jan. 2	Colombo	Hobart	Jan. 20	Independent	–
	Jan. 21	Hobart	Balboa	Febr. 17	Independent	–
	Febr. 18	Cristobal	New York City	Febr. 27	Independent	–
	March 19	New York City	Gitmo	March 26	NG 350	Convoy available at NG convoys (external link)
	March 27	Gitmo	Cristobal	March 31	GZ 26	Convoy available at GZ convoys (external link)
	Apr. 2	Balboa	Fremantle	May 5	Independent	–
	May 6*	Fremantle	Aden	–	Independent	*Page 3 gives departure Apr. 6
	May 24	Aden	Suez	May 29	Independent	Left Suez June 15 (Page 3).
	June 29	Port Said	Iskenderun	July 1	Independent	–
	Aug. 5	Iskenderun	Haifa	Aug. 6	Independent	See also narrative below
	Aug. 8	Haifa	Port Said	Aug. 9	Independent	–
	Aug. 9	Port Said	Alexandria	Aug. 10	Independent	–
	Aug. 25	Alexandria	Gibraltar	Sept. 4	MKS 23	–
	Sept. 8	Gibraltar	New York City	Sept. 24	GUS 14	Convoy available at GUS convoys (external link)
	Oct. 22	New York City	Hampton Roads	Oct. 23	Independent	–
	Oct. 25	Hampton Roads	Port Said	Nov. 22	UGS 22	Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link) Missing movements, Page 4
	Dec. 4	Port Said	Haifa	Dec. 5	Independent	–
	Dec. 6	Haifa	Mersin	Dec. 7	Independent	–
	Dec. 8	Mersin	Iskenderun	Dec. 9	Independent	Left Iskenderun Dec. 12 (Page 4).
	Dec. 26	Port Said	Alexandria	Dec. 27	Independent	A. Hague says: Passage from Iskenderun not reported (but see note above)
	Dec. 27	Alexandria	Hampton Roads	Jan. 24-1944	GUS 26	Convoy available at GUS convoys (external link)
1944	Jan. 24	Hampton Roads	Baltimore	Jan. 25	Independent	–
	Jan. 30	Baltimore	New York City	Febr. 1	Independent	–
	Febr. 20	New York City	Hampton Roads	Febr. 21	Independent	–
	Febr. 23	Hampton Roads	Alexandria	March 19	UGS 34	Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link)
	Apr. 5	Alexandria	New York City	May 2	GUS 36	Convoy available at GUS convoys (external link)
	May 21	New York City	Hampton Roads	–	Independent	–
	May 23	Hampton Roads	Alexandria	June 17	UGS 43	Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link)
	June 26	Alexandria	Port Said	June 27	Independent	–
	June 28	Port Said	Haifa	June 29	Independent	–
	June 29	Haifa	Iskenderun	June 30	Independent	–
	July 6	Iskenderun	Mersin	July 7	Independent	–
	July 22	Mersin	Port Said	July 24	Independent	–
	July 25	Port Said	Baltimore	Aug. 18	GUS 47	–
	Aug. 22	Baltimore	New York City	Aug. 23	Independent	–
	Sept. 20	New York City	Hampton Roads	Sept. 21	Independent	–
	Sept. 22	Hampton Roads	Port Said	Oct. 17	UGS 55	Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link)
	Oct. 27	Port Said	Iskenderun	Oct. 28	Independent	–
	Nov. 8	Iskenderun	Mersin	Nov. 9	Independent	–
	Nov. 16	Mersin	Port Said	–	Independent	Page 4 gives arrival Nov. 21
	Nov. 22	Port Said	Oran	Nov. 28	Independent	–
	Dec. 3	Oran	Baltimore	Dec. 22	GUS 60	Convoy available at GUS convoys (external link)
1945	Jan. 7	Baltimore	New York City	Jan. 8	Independent	–
	Jan. 22	New York City	Passed Gibraltar	Febr. 7	UGS 70	Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link)
	Febr. 7	Passed Gibraltar	Port Said	Febr. 13	Independent	–
	Febr. 21	Port Said	Iskenderun	Febr. 22	Independent	–
	March 7	Iskenderun	Mersin	March 7	Independent	–
	March 18	Mersin	Port Said	March 19	Independent	Via Iskenderun - see Page 5
	March 20	Port Said	Oran	March 26	Independent	–
	March 28	Oran	Baltimore	Apr. 13	GUS 80	Via Hampton Roads (Page 5). Convoy available at GUS convoys (external link)
	Apr. 20	Baltimore	New York City	Apr. 21	Independent	–
	May 2	New York City	–	–	UGS 90	Dispersed May 18. Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link)
	May 18	Dispersed from UGS 90	Alexandria	May 24	Independent	–
	May 25	Alexandria	Port Said	May 25	Independent	–
	June 2	Port Said	Alexandria	June 3	Independent	–
	June 5	Alexandria	New York City	–	Independent	Page 5 gives arrival June 19/20
	July 4	New York City	Port Said	July 21	Independent	–
	July 25	Port Said	Alexandria	Aug. 12	Independent	Via Iskenderun (see Page 5)
	Aug. 14	Alexandria	Boston	Aug. 30	Independent	–
	Aug. 30	Boston	New York City	Sept. 4	Independent	–
	Sept. 16	New York City	Alexandria	Oct. 2	Independent	–
	Oct. 10	Alexandria	Istanbul	Oct. 13	Independent	–
	Oct. 20	Istanbul	Izmir	Oct. 21	Independent	–
	Oct. 25	Izmir	New York City	Nov. 10	Independent	Subsequent voyages, Page 5

Some War Voyages:

As can be seen, only a few of her voyages are mentioned here. For information on voyages made in between those noted below, please see the documents received from the National Archives of Norway and A. Hague's Voyage Record above.

According to Page 1 of the archive documents, Fernplant sailed from Shanghai on Apr. 9-1940, the day war broke out in Norway. She arrived Manila on Apr. 12. Her 1941 voyages also start on this document and continue on Page 2, which also has a few 1942 voyages.

"Nortraships flåte" states that Fernplant was shelled on the night leading up to Febr. 25-1942, when off Aruba (from the archive document, we learn that she was on her way from Cristobal to Trinidad on that date). Her log states that the incident took place at 00:16 while she was proceeding on a zig-zag course. The fire came from an unknown surfaced attacker on the starboard quarters. Under the leadership of 3rd Mate Morgan Nilsen Fernplant returned the fire, but missed. Maneuvers were performed to get the enemy behind her while full speed was given, then Fernplant's 4" aft gun was fired. After Fernplant's 4th shot, the attacker stopped firing, then at 00:20, as the intruder took off, 2 more shots were fired from Fernplant. One of the shells from the unknown attacker had exploded 5-10 meters behind Fernplant, with the shrapnel causing some damages to the ship.

Her subsequent voyages are shown on Page 2 - see also Page 3, which has the rest of her 1942 voyages as well as some 1943 voyages - convoy information for some of them can be found in the Voyage Record above.

Claims in some sources that Fernplant was sunk by Limpet mines are incorrect. Luigi Ferraro did attach Limpets to the ship at Alexandretta on Aug. 2-1943, but she arrived Haifa on Aug. 6, quite unaware of the danger she had been in. The explosives were found during an underwater inspection by the British naval authorities, probably initiated because another unexploded Limpet had recently been found on another ship.

Later that month, she made a voyage from Alexandria to Gibraltar with Convoy MKS 23 (scroll down to the second table on that page). She had left Alexandria on Aug. 25 and arrived Gibraltar Sept. 4. The rest of her 1943 voyages are shown on Page 4, which also has her 1944 voyages - again, A. Hague's Voyage Record above has convoy information for some of them.

Skipping now to the summer of 1944, when I have her among the ships in Convoy GUS 47, which left Port Said on July 24-1944; Fernplant was on a voyage from Mersin (July 22); she arrived Baltimore on Aug. 18. The Norwegian Tricolor, Polartank, Kong Sverre and Lidvard also joined this convoy from Port Said, while Topdalsfjord later joined from Bizerta. Gard is also mentioned, voyage from Gibraltar to U.S.A. for major engine repairs.

Page 4 also lists some 1945 voyages, while the rest are shown on Page 5 (to Apr.-1946), with convoy details in A. Hague's record above.

POST WAR:

Sold in 1963 to Societe Monegasque de Transports Maritimes, Monaco, and renamed Saint Charles. Sold in 1967 to Thalassa Shipping Corp, Panama, and renamed Thalassa. Sold in 1970 to Astro Atlanica Armadora S.A., Panama, renamed Thalassa B. Broken up at Mangalore in Nov.-1970.

Related external link:
Alexandretta - A Section of the Italian "Regia Marina". Fernplant is mentioned.

Back to Fernplant on the "Ships starting with F" page.