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M/T Fjord To Fjord on the "Ships starting with F" page. Owner: A/S D/S Fjeld Built by Tyne Iron Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Willington Quay-on-Tyne in 1914. Previous name: Orla until 1937 (A/S D/S Eir - O. Grolle Olsen & L. Hysing Olsen, Bergen). According to this external page, she had previously been owned by Bergvalls D/S A/S (Arvid Bergvall), Kristiania upon delivery in May-1914. In 1916, owner was A/S Ivar An. Christensens Rederi II, Kristiania, same name. Owned from 1920 by A/S Ivarans Rederi (Ivar An. Christensen), Kristiania, still as Orla. In 1927, owners became D/S Eidsvold A/S (Henrik Østervold), Bergen, no name change. Owned by A/S D/S Eir (O. Grolle & I. Hysing Olsen), Bergen from Aug.-1934, same name. Sold in Apr.-1937 to A/S D/S Fjeld (Anton Meidell), Bergen and renamed Fjord. Damaged during a storm in the North Sea in 1938, towed to Clyde listing. Captain: Halfdan Tønder Related item on this website: Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives: Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.
According to Page 1 of the archive documents, Fjord was on her way from St. Thomas to Buenos Aires when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. On July 17 that same year, she was the victim of a German air attack, about 13 n. miles off Dartmouth, but was not hit. In Oct.-1940, we find her, together with Augvald and Granli, in Convoy OA 231, which left Methil on Oct. 18 and dispersed Oct. 23, Fjord arriving St. John's, N.F. on Oct. 30 (a direct link to this convoy has been provided within the Voyage Record above). She headed back to the U.K. on Nov. 30 in the slow Convoy SC 14 from Sydney, C.B., pit props for Barry, where she arrived Dec. 17, and unless voyages are missing from her record she subsequently remained there for a long time - departure is given as Febr. 25-1941, when she proceeded to Milford Haven - again, see Page 1. From Milford Haven she joined Convoy OB 292, originating in Liverpool on Febr. 28-1941, dispersed March 6. Granli is again included (said to have been sunk, but there's some disagreement with regard to convoy designation - follow link for details), as are Hellen, Ruth I, Selbo and Solitaire (link in table above). Fjord arrived Galveston on Apr. 1, according to the archive document, having sailed from Milford Haven on Febr. 27. She later proceeded to Halifax, and from there, she joined the slow Convoy SC 29 back to the U.K. on Apr. 19, cargo of sulphur for Newport, station 95, with arrival May 10. The escorts' reports are also available for this convoy. Later that month, she appears, together with Solitaire, in Convoy OG 63, originating in Liverpool on May 25. This convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section as soon as I can; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named on the page listing ships in all OG convoys. This was a Gibraltar bound convoy, which arrived there on June 7, but Fjord was bound for Wabana, where she arrived on June 6, having parted company on May 30. She proceeded to Sydney, C.B. the next day (June 7), later joining Convoy SC 35, and arrived Belfast Lough on July 10, Newport on July 12, cargo of iron ore. The following month, she was 1 of several Norwegian ships in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 4. Her destination is given as Halifax, where she arrived Aug. 24, the convoy having been dispersed on the 18th. On Sept. 7, she headed back across the Atlantic again in Convoy SC 43, joining from Wabana (convoy originated in Sydney, C.B. on Sept. 5). She was again bound for Newport, where she arrived, via Belfast Lough, on Sept. 22 (her voyages in this period are shown on Page 2). SC 43 is not yet available among the SC convoys included in my Convoys section, but will be added - see ships in all SC convoys. Astrell, Atle Jarl, Bernhard, Bjørkhaug, Bonde (returned), Erica, Fjordheim, Galatea, Ingerfem, Solstad, Torfinn Jarl and Vigsnes are also listed. Fjord is now listed in Convoy OS 9, bound for Lisbon with coal, having left Milford Haven on Oct. 12; arrival Lisbon is given as Nov. 2 on Page 2 of the archive docs. Other Norwegian ships in this convoy were Annavore and Fagersten. Follow the link in the table above for more convoy information. Annavore and Fagersten later joined Convoy HG 76 in order to return to the U.K. (Annavore was sunk, follow link for details) and it looks like Fjord had also originally been scheduled for this convoy, which was held back and did not leave Gibraltar until Dec. 14-1941. Fjord, however, was torpedoed before she reached Gibraltar.
Fjord was torpedoed off Estepona Point, Spain by U-557 (Paulssen) on Dec. 2-1941, when on a voyage from Aguilas, Spain for Barrow via Gibraltar with a cargo of 5900 tons iron ore, having departed Spain the day before. She was hit amidships on the starboard side, probably in the boiler room, and went down so quickly that the crew had to jump overboard (Page 2 gives the time as 19:30, adding she was lost the next day). 22 managed to find 2 rafts, while 14 lost their lives, some in the explosion, others when the ship went down. The survivors landed about 9 kilometers southeast of Estepona, then travelled to Estepona the next day. From there they were sent to Algeciras where they were questioned by Spanish Naval officers, before they were sent to Sevilla on a tug. The allied consulates got busy investigating the case, as it was obvious the U-boat had been within the Spanish (neutral) territorial waters at the time. The only surviving navigator was 2nd Mate Borgar Knutsen, who reported to the Norwegian consul in Sevilla that he was certain the torpedo had come from the side of the ship that was facing the shore and that Fjord went down about 2 1/2 miles off Estepona. Fjord had a British radio operator, who claimed they were so close to land that it would have been possible to swim the distance. They were later sent to Gibraltar in order to continue to the U.K. The maritime hearings were held in London on Febr. 4-1942 with the 2nd mate, the carpenter and the boatswain appearing. For info, U-557 had also been responsible for the attack on Segundo earlier that year - follow the link for details. The U-boat was sunk with all hands not long after Fjord had been sunk; ref. external link below. Crew List:
Related external links: Back to Fjord on the "Ships starting with F" page. 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) and misc. - ref. My sources.
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