Owner: A/S D/S Jan
Manager: Johan Eliassen, Bergen
Tonnage: 1946 gt

Built by T. van Dijvendijk, Lekkerkerk, Holland in 1920 (possibly 1921). Previous names: Ledaal 1922, Targis 1922, Albert Sauber until 1926, Torsol until 1936.

Captain from Apr. until Sept.-1941 was Karl Helmer Henriksen (previously of M/S Vinni which had been sunk by the German raider Komet - M/S Vinni's Story has more details on this).

Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8

Some Convoy Voyages:

(More will be added).

Jan, bound for Bristol with lumber, is listed in the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 51 in Oct./Nov.-1941; follow the link for more details, other Norwegian ships also took part.

In Febr.-1942 we find her in Convoy RU 11 from Reykjavik to the U.K., bound for Clyde, arriving Febr. 13. She subsequently made voyages to Belfast, Milford Haven, Solent, Barry, Falmouth etc., then in May that year she shows up in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 94, which left Liverpool on May 12-1942 and arrived Halifax on the 25th; Jan's destination is given as Parrsboro, N.S. The Norwegian Carmelfjell (returned), Dux, Evanger, Ingertre, Mathilda, Norelg (returned), and Torfinn Jarl are also listed. This convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section, but for now, the ships sailing in it are named on this page. She later returned to the U.K. with the slow Sydney (C.B.)-U.K. Convoy SC 91 (departure Sydney, C.B. July 10-1942, arrival Liverpool July 24), cargo of lumber for London; several Norwegian ships took part, as will be seen when following the link. Some of them, including Jan, headed back across the Atlantic in Aug.-1942 with the westbound Convoy ON 122 (in which the Norwegian Trolla was sunk). The Norwegian corvettes Acanthus, Eglantine, Montbretia, and Potentilla were among the escorts. The external website that I've linked to below has her returning to the U.K. in Convoy SC 103, which originated in New York on Sept. 26-1942 and arrived Liverpool on Oct. 14, but Jan joined this convoy from Halifax. The Norwegian Ada, Boreas, Ingerfire, Rio Branco, Rolf Jarl, Solitaire, Carmelfjell, Norfalk, Pan Aruba, Solhavn, Solstad, and Vinland are also listed.

She now made voyages to places like Methil, Ipswich, Tyne, Loch Ewe, Reykjavik, Liverpool, Swansea, Barry, Milford Haven etc. until June-1943, when she's included in Convoy OS 49/KMS 16, which departed Liverpool on June 4-1943 and split up on the 13th. Jan was in the Gibraltar portion, KMS 16*, which arrived there on June 15, however, she continued to Algiers, where she arrived on June 18 - again, several Norwegian ships took part. Jan subsequently made voyages to Bizerta (July-1943), Malta (Sept.-1943), Naples and Augusta (Oct.-1943), back to Bizerta and on to Philippeville (Nov.-1943), Catania and Augusta (Dec.-1943).

In 1944 she made further voyages to Naples, Bizerta, Bari, Taranto, Augusta etc., until May-1944, when we find her in Convoy KMS 48A*, which left Gibraltar on May 1 and arrived Augusta on the 6th, Jan, however, joined this convoy from Algiers (left Algiers May 4) and was bound for Bizerta (having previously arrived Algiers from Augusta on Apr. 23 with Convoy GUS 37). In July that same year she's listed in Convoy MKS 54*, originating in Port Said on June 28, arriving Gibraltar on July 10, but Jan joined from Algiers (left July 7), having previously arrived Algiers from Bizerta on June 22 with Convoy GUS 43 (both the GUS convoys mentioned here are available at the external website that I've linked to below; these convoys had originated in Port Said and had the U.S. as their final destination).

The following month she travelled from Gibraltar to the U.K., subsequently making several voyages around the U.K. Please follow the instructions provided at the external link below for more information on the rest of her convoy voyages.

* All the KMS and MKS convoys mentioned here will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section; in the meantime, the ships sailing in them are named in the section listing ships in all KMS convoys, and ships in all MKS convoys. More details on all the other Norwegian ships named here can be found with the help of the alphabet index at the end of this page, or go to the Master Ship Index.

Related external link:
Misc. convoys - By clicking on "Ship Search", using "Jan" as keyword, several convoys that are not mentioned in my own text will come up, including many local U.K. convoys. As will be seen, many other ships with the letters JAN in their names will appear in the search results, but Jan should be easy enough to spot among them. Here are SC 103 and OS 49/KMS 16, both mentioned in the above narrataive.

Back to Jan on the "Ships starting with J" page.

A fishing vessel, M/B Jan (H 135 S) escaped from Tælavåg on Oct. 5-1941 with 19 people on board.