M/S Høegh Silverstar - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945

M/S Høegh Silverstar
Updated Oct. 29-2011

To Høegh Silverstar on the "Ships starting with H" page.

Scanned from Leif Høegh & Co.'s fleet list, and used here with the company's permission.

The above picture was very kindly sent to me by Historical Department, MAN B&W Diesel, Copenhagen.
(See also their museum website).
The Australian War Memorial has another picture of this ship, taken at Port Moresby on Dec. 30-1941 (both links are external). It'll be noticed, when going to Page 3 of the archive documents, that this port is not mentioned for this period.

Manager: Leif Høegh & Co. A/S, Oslo.
Tonnage: 5415 gt, 3261 net, 9275 tdwt.
Dimensions: 442' x 58' 5".
Machinery: 8 cyl. two stroke cycle double acting oil engine by the shipbuilders.

General cargo vessel completed by Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen in Jan.-1938. According to R. W. Jordan, she was managed during the war by S & J Thompson Ltd., London, managers of Silver Line Ltd., which had a joint service arrangement with Leif Høegh before the war.

Captain of this ship in 1941 was Edgar Waaler (age 46), later of Høegh Silverdawn fame (see my page Norwegian victims of Michel).
Captain Alf Slaatten took over from him early in 1942.

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

Voyage Record
From Nov.-1941 to Nov.-1945:

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

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Errors may exist, and several voyages are missing.

	Departure	From	To	Arrival	Convoy	Remarks
1941	Nov. 27	San Francisco	Thursday Island	Jan. 3-1942*	Independent	A. Hague says: Previously traded Indian Ocean/Pacific. Earlier voyages: Page 1, Page 2 & Page 3 *Page 3 gives arrival Jan. 1.
1942	Jan. 3	Thursday Island	Brisbane	Jan. 7	Independent	–
	Jan. 17	Brisbane	Sydney, N.S.W.	Jan. 19	Independent	–
	Jan. 31	Sydney, N.S.W.	Calcutta	Febr. 20	Independent	–
	March 17	Calcutta	Colombo	March 21	Independent	–
	March 28	Colombo	Capetown	Apr. 12	Independent	–
	Apr. 13	Capetown	New York City	May 5	Independent	–
	June 12	New York City	Capetown	July 7	Independent	–
	July 12	Capetown	Bombay	July 28	Independent	–
	Sept. 12	Bombay	Cochin	Sept. 14	Independent	–
	Sept. 19	Cochin	Capetown	Oct. 3	Independent	–
	Oct. 5	Capetown	Punta Arenas	Oct. 20	Independent	–
	Oct. 21	Punta Arenas	Balboa	Nov. 3	Independent	–
	Nov. 11	Cristobal	Gitmo	Nov. 14	ZG 11	Convoy available at ZG convoys (external link)
	Nov. 16	Gitmo	New York City	Nov. 23	GN 20	Convoy available at GN convoys (external link)
	Dec. 22	New York City	Gitmo	Dec. 29	NG 331	For Cristobal. Convoy available at NG convoys (external link)
1943	Jan. 3	Gitmo	Cristobal	Jan. 7	GZ 18	Convoy available at GZ convoys (external link)
	Jan. 9	Balboa	Fremantle	Febr. 13	Independent	–
	Febr. 14	Fremantle	Basra Bar	March 4	Independent	A. Hague says: Arrived Basra March 8. See also Page 3
	Apr. 8	Basra	Abadan	Apr. 8	Independent	–
	Apr. 10	Abadan	Bahrein	Apr. 11	Independent	–
	Apr. 12	Bahrein	Bandar Abbas	–	Independent	–
	Apr. 16	Bandar Abbas	Bombay	Apr. 22	PB 36	Convoy available via this page (external link)
	Apr. 30	Bombay	Cochin	May 2	Independent	–
	May 5	Cochin	Colombo	May 6	Independent	–
	May 16	Colombo	Fremantle	May 28	Independent	–
	May 28	Fremantle	Balboa	June 29	Independent	–
	June 30	Cristobal	Key West	July 4	Independent	–
	July 4	Key West	New York City	July 9	KN 250	Convoy available at KN convoys (external link)
	Aug. 3	New York City	Hampton Roads	–	Independent	–
	Aug. 7	Hampton Roads	Port Said	Sept. 2	UGS 14	Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link) See also Page 4
	Sept. 4	Suez	Aden	Sept. 8	Independent	–
	Sept. 8	Aden	Bombay	Sept. 13	Independent	–
	Oct. 3	Bombay	Cochin	Oct. 5	Independent	–
*	Oct. 12	Cochin	Colombo	Oct. 14	Independent	–
	Note that Høegh Silverstar* is included, with a note saying "Joined 12 Oct. from Cochin", in Convoy BM 70 (external link, info based on Arnold Hague's database), which originated in Bombay on Oct. 9-1943 and arrived Colombo on the 14th. (The Norwegian Fenris is also listed).
	Oct. 19	Colombo	Aden	Oct. 27	Independent	–
	Oct. 27	Aden	Suez	Oct. 31	Independent	On to Port Said Nov. 4 (Page 4).
	Nov. 7	Port Said	New York City	Dec. 5	GUS 21	Port Said to USA. Convoy available at GUS convoys (external link)
1944	Jan. 11	New York City	Hampton Roads	–	Independent	–
	Jan. 14	Hampton Roads	Port Said	Febr. 10	UGS 30	For Port Said. Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link) See also narrative below. On to Suez same day (Page 4).
	Febr. 12	Suez	Aden	Febr. 16	Independent	–
	Febr. 16	Aden	Karachi	Febr. 21	Independent	–
	Febr. 24	Karachi	Bombay	Febr. 26	Independent	–
	March 13	Bombay	Karachi	March 15	Independent	–
	March 17	Karachi	Colombo	March 22	Independent	–
	March 30	Colombo	Aden	Apr. 7	Independent	–
	Apr. 7	Aden	Suez	Apr. 12	Independent	See also Page 4
	Apr. 14	Port Said	New York City	May 11	GUS 37	Port Said to USA. Convoy available at GUS convoys (external link)
	June 9	New York City	Hampton Roads	–	Independent	–
	June 12	Hampton Roads	Port Said	July 7	UGS 45	For Port Said (on to Suez same day)
	July 8	Suez	Aden	July 12	Independent	–
	July 12	Aden	Cochin	July 19	Independent	–
	July 20	Cochin	Karachi	July 24	Independent	–
	Aug. 2	Karachi	Bombay	Aug. 4	Independent	–
	Aug. 21	Bombay	Cochin	Aug. 23	Independent	–
	Aug. 27	Cochin	Colombo	Aug. 28	Independent	–
	Sept. 7	Colombo	Aden	Sept. 14	Independent	–
	Sept. 14	Aden	Suez	Sept. 19	Independent	On to Port Said same day (Page 4).
	Sept. 22	Port Said	New York City	Oct. 17	GUS 53	Port Said to USA. Convoy available at GUS convoys (external link)
	Nov. 10	New York City	Passed Gibraltar	Nov. 26	UGS 60	Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link)
	Nov. 26	Passed Gibraltar	Port Said	Dec. 2	Independent	Arrived Suez Dec. 3 (Page 5).
	Dec. 4	Suez	Aden	Dec. 8	Independent	–
	Dec. 8	Aden	Karachi	Dec. 13	Independent	–
	Dec. 18	Karachi	Bombay	Dec. 20	Independent	–
	Dec. 28	Bombay	Cochin	Dec. 29	Independent	–
1945	Jan. 4	Cochin	Colombo	Jan. 5	Independent	–
	Jan. 19	Colombo	Aden	Jan. 26	Independent	–
	Jan. 26	Aden	Suez	Jan. 31	Independent	On to Port Said same day (Page 5).
	Febr. 3	Port Said	Oran	Febr. 9	Independent	–
	Febr. 11	Oran	New York City	Febr. 28	GUS 71	Convoy available at GUS convoys (external link)
	Apr. 2	New York City	Passed Gibraltar	Apr. 17	UGS 84	Convoy available at UGS convoys (external link)
	Apr. 17	Passed Gibraltar	Port Said	–	Independent	Page 5 gives arrival Apr. 25 (on to Suez same day).
	Apr. 25	Suez	Aden	Apr. 30	Independent	–
	Apr. 30	Aden	Bombay	May 5	Independent	–
	May 22	Bombay	Karachi	May 24	Independent	–
	May 30	Karachi	Bombay	June 1	Independent	–
	June 1	Bombay	Colombo	June 4	Independent	–
	June 12	Colombo	Suez	June 24	Independent	On to Port Said same day (Page 5).
	June 25	Port Said	New York City	July 12	Independent	–
	Aug. 12	New York City	Port Said	Aug. 29	Independent	–
	Aug. 29	Suez*	Cochin	Sept. 8	Independent	*From Port Said
	Sept. 22	Cochin	Bombay	Sept. 23	Independent	–
	Oct. 15	Bombay	Suez*	Oct. 25	Independent	*Port Said (Page 5).
	Oct. 25	Port Said	New York City	Nov. 12	Independent	Subsequent voyages: Page 5 & Page 6

Misc. War Details:

For information on voyages made in between those discussed below, please see the documents received from the Norwegian archives and A. Hague's Voyage Record above.

When war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940, Høegh Silverstar was in Colombo, having arrived there that same day from Singapore, according to Page 1 of the archive documents. Her 1941 voyages start on Page 2 (unfortunately, the document is torn, so that some of the departure dates are gone) and continue on Page 3, which also shows her 1942 voyages. As will be seen, she appears to have spent almost a month at Sandheads (or Calcutta) at the beginning of 1942, having arrived there from Sydney, N.S.W. on Febr. 20; departure is given as March 17. She also spent over a month in New York that spring. She had arrived from Table Bay (or Cape Town) on May 5 and did not leave again until June 12, arriving Table Bay July 7. From there, she proceeded to Bombay on July 12, with arrival July 28, departing for Cochin on Sept. 12. Later that year, another month was spent in New York, where she had arrived from Guantanamo Bay on Nov. 23, heading back to Guantanamo Bay on Dec. 22. Similar long stays are shown on Page 4.

Skipping now to 1944, when she was in Convoy UGS 30, which was attacked by German aircraft off Oran on Febr. 1. This convoy had departed Hampton Roads on Jan. 14 and arrived Port Said Febr. 10 (available via the external link provided within the Voyage Record; the Norwegian Gausdal is also listed). According to "Nortraships Flåte", 40 bombers approached but British aircraft split the formation so that only 7 reached the convoy. 2 aircraft attacked at 18:50 ship's time, right after the convoy's escorts had returned to base (North Africa?). One of the ships (in station No. 11) was hit by a torpedo and damaged by the explosion, but was able to continue. I've been told this was the American Richmond P. Hobson. The other aircraft torpedoed a ship on the other side of the convoy (no details on damages, possibly sunk? This must have been the American Edward Bates listed as sunk by aircraft on Febr. 1 in Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System", with the loss of 1 man). The aircraft later returned to drop some bombs, but no hits were achieved. The voyage could then continue via the Suez Canal, Red Sea to Karachi and Bombay. Høegh Silverstar was in station 21, and had been to New York - she arrived Karachi on Febr. 21, Bombay Febr. 26. Again, see Page 4.

She's also listed among the ships in Convoy UGS 45 from Hampton Roads in June-1944; follow the link for more info.

German bombers, stationed in the south of France, posed a more serious threat to allied shipping in the Mediterranean than the U-boats did at this time, their primary goal being the large UGS convoys from the U.S. carrying supplies to the allied forces in Italy. On the other hand, the convoys' anti aircraft defence system was very strong, with aircraft patrolling night and day. Additionally, the merchant ships' own armament played a part in the defence, as did the squadrons stationed in North Africa and the special anti aircraft cruisers that often joined the escorts from Gibraltar, as well as the radar installations in the escorts which could detect the aircraft early and thereby give the convoys time to prepare for attack.

Her 1945 voyages and some 1946 voyages are listed on Page 5; see also Page 6.

POST WAR:

Sold in Aug.-1954 to Rederi A/B Asta (Arthur Andersson, manager), Finland and renamed Alca. Transferred in 1956 to the management of Lennart Karlsson. Collided on Febr. 12-1963 in the River Scheldt with the Swedish M/S Alvafors, while outward bound from Antwerp for Jacksonville. Beached on fire and broke in two the next day.

Related external links:
Høegh's Fleet today
Høegh & Co.

Back to Høegh Silverstar on the "Ships starting with H" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, and misc. - ref. My sources.