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M/S Ingria To Ingria on the "Ships starting with I" page. Owner: A/S Inger Built by Burmeister & Wain's Maskin- og Skibsbyggeri A/S, Copenhagen in 1931. Captain: Fredrik Ditlefsen (from 1937). Related items 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.
From Page 1 of the archive documents, we learn that Ingria was in Philadelphia when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940, having arrived there from Baltimore on Apr. 7. Her 1941 voyages also start on this document. Skipping now to July 11-1941, when she was scheduled for Convoy HX 138 from Halifax to the U.K., but she instead joined the next convoy on July 16, HX 139, bound for Mersey with general cargo. The Commodore's narrative is also available. The following month, we find her in Convoy OS 4, which departed Liverpool on Aug. 23 and lost several ships, among them the Norwegian Segundo (follow the link for details - see also the external link below). Beth, Chr. Knudsen and Elg are also named in this convoy. Ingria arrived Freetown Sept. 14, proceeding to Capetown on Sept. 19, with arrival Oct. 4. With a cargo of copper, wool and whale oil, she later returned to the U.K. in Convoy SL 95 (together with Jenny), departing Freetown on Dec. 12; she arrived Liverpool on Jan. 1-1942. See the links provided within the table above for more on these convoys. Her voyages in this period are shown on Page 2. At the end of that month (Jan. 30-1942), she joined Convoy OS 18, bound for Durban and Beira with general cargo as well as aircraft, station 61. This was a Freetown bound convoy, which arrived there on Febr. 20; Ingria parted company that day and arrived Durban on March 9, Beira (via Lourenço Marques) on the 21st, departing Beira again on the 28th. Along with Brasil, Jenny and Thorshavet, she later went in the other direction with Convoy SL 109/SL 109F, departing Freetown on May 4 (links in Voyage Record). She was bound for Liverpool with general cargo, station 91. Mike Holdoway, the webmaster of the SL Convoys site, has told me that the general cargo consisted of 2026 tons mimosa extract, 1505 tons copper, 976 tons chrome ore, 571 tons wool, 510 tons magnesite, 473 tons asbestos, 439 tons tea, 192 tons hides etc, 82 tons cobalt, 179 tons sundries, for a total of 6953 tons. She arrived Liverpool on May 26, later proceeding to Manchester - again, see Page 2. In July, we find her in Convoy OS 33 (station 63), voyaging from Liverpool to Capetown and Bombay. The external website that I've linked to in the Voyage Record has a lot more information on its passage; the site has a separate section for OS 33, which lost several ships. Ingria was in the convoy from departure Liverpool on July 1 until detached on July 20 to continue her voyage to Capetown and Bombay unescorted. According to the archive document, she arrived Bombay on Aug. 27 (remaining there for a month). She had a cargo of military and general stores (including explosives) and was designated as 'carrying dangerous cargo'. She was armed with a 3" gun, 4 machine guns and kites. Other Norwegian ships in this convoy were Sophocles, Maloja and Jenny. Ingria was scheduled for Convoy HX 220 from New York on Dec. 21-1942, but instead joined the next convoy on Dec. 29, HX 221; see also the Commodore's narrative (the Commodore was in Abraham Lincoln). Ingria had a general cargo for Hull, where she arrived, via Loch Ewe and Methil, on Jan. 17-1943 - see Page 3. She left Hull again on Febr. 4 and arrived Loch Ewe, via Methil, on Febr. 10, then the next day she embarked on what was to be her last voyage, as will be seen in the next paragraph.
Related external link:
Ingria left Loch Ewe for New York in ballast in station 83 of Convoy ON 166 on Febr. 11-1943. Molda, Skandinavia, Tai Shan, Tropic Star and Brasil are also listed, as are Glittre, Stigstad and N. T. Nielsen-Alonso (all sunk - follow the links for more details). At about 05:15* (GMT?) on Febr. 24, Ingria was torpedoed by U-600 (Zurmühlen), in the 5th attack on the convoy. (Page 3 of the archive documents gives the time as about 05:35). The torpedo struck on the port side between hold No. 4 and the engine room, which immediately flooded, stopping all the machinery. By the time the ship had been abandoned in 2 lifeboats her stern was just 2' above water and she had cracked all the way across. The boats were clear of the ship when another torpedo struck about 20 minutes later, this time from U-628 (Hasenschar) and she sank, 45 12N 39 17W. The survivors were picked up by the escorting Canadian corvette HMCS Rosthern a couple of hours later and landed in St. John's on Febr. 27. The maritime hearings were held there that same day(?) with the captain, the 1st mate, the 2nd engineer and Ordianry Seaman Remø (helmsman) appearing.
The following ships were also sunk (in addition to the Norwegian ships already mentioned):
External links related to the text on this page: ON 166, 21 - 26 Feb 1943 - Details on the battle and a list of ships sunk. Again, see also my own page about Convoy ON 166. Operations information for U-600 | Operations information for U-628 Back to Ingria on the "Ships starting with I" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "The Allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague, "Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume I (Norwegian Maritime Museum), and misc. (ref. My sources). Summary of statements by survivors, in a Memorandum signed by Lieutenant Robert G. Fulton, was received from Tony Cooper, England.
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