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M/T Katy To Katy on the "Ships starting with K" page. Manager: S. Holter-Sørensen, Oslo Built by William Doxford & Sons Ltd., Sunderland in 1931. Captain: Reidar Thorn.
Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database). Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each (please be aware that some of the external listings are incomplete). Errors may exist, and some voyages are missing.
Judging from the information found on Page 1, Katy was on her way from Durban to Abadan when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. The followng month, we find her in Convoy HG 29 from Gibraltar to the U.K. Her destination is given as Mersey and she had station 22 of the convoy, which left Gibraltar on May 7 and arrived Liverpool on the 17th. The Norwegian Finnanger and Buesten are also listed. A few days later, Katy joined Convoy OB 153, departing Liverpool on May 22 - see the external link provided within the Voyage Record. This convoy joined up with Convoy OA 153 on May 25, the combined convoy forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 31F, which arrived there on May 30. Katy, however, was bound for Corpus Christi, where she arrived on June 12, having detached from the convoy on May 27. The Norwegian Sama is also listed. OG 31F will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named on the page listing ships in all OG convoys. From Corpus Christi, Katy proceeded to Bermuda 2 days later, joining the Bermuda portion of Convoy HX 53 on June 24. She had a cargo of casoline for Avonmouth, where she arrived on July 10. It'll be noticed, when going back to Page 1, that she later appears to have spent quite a lng time at Barry, where she had arrived from Avonmouth on July 17; departure is given as Sept. 2, when she headed to Milford Haven. She's now listed in Convoy OB 209, originating in Liverpool on Sept. 5, dispersed on the 9th, Katy arriving Capetown on Oct. 6, continuing to Abadan on the 8th (she had started out from Milford Haven on Sept. 4). Olaf Fostenes is also listed in this convoy (link in the table above). Skipping now to Aug. 5-1941, when I have her in Convoy HX 143 from Halifax, together with the Norwegian Thorshavn, Belinda, Mosli, Andrea Brøvig, Ravnefjell, Carmelfjell, Salamis, Primero, Benwood and Petter. Katy arrived Swansea, via Belfast Lough, on Aug. 23, later joining the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 13; her destination is given as Montreal, but this is not mentioned on Page 2 of the archive documents, which says she arrived New York on Sept. 19, having started out from Milford Haven on Sept. 4 (via Belfast Lough, Sept. 5 - the convoy had originated in Liverpool on Sept. 5 and dispersed on the 11th). From New York, she proceeded to Baltimore the next day, then on to Halifax in order to join Convoy HX 153 on Oct. 5, along with the Norwegian Temeraire, Haakon Hauan, Sveve, Ferncastle, Bonneville, Lista, Santos, Andrea Brøvig and Toronto; though a couple of these returned to port. Katy arrived Falmouth, via Belfast Lough and Milford Haven, on Oct. 23, then at the beginning of the following month, she appears in station 15 of the westbound Convoy ON 32, bound for New York, with arrival there on Nov. 18, having detached from the convoy on the 15th (ON 32 arrived Halifax on Nov. 16). She subsequently headed back to the U.K. on Nov. 27 in Convoy HX 162 from Halifax, together with Astrell, Brant County, Bello, Sama, Skandinavia, Beth (returned) and Høegh Scout. Norvinn (Panamanian flag, Norwegian managers and, therefore, included on this website) was also scheduled for this convoy but did not sail. Katy's last Trans-Atlantic voyage that year was made with the westbound Convoy ON 52*, which originated in Liverpool on Dec. 31 and dispersed Jan. 11-1942, Katy arriving New Orleans Jan. 27 - she had started out from Milford Haven on Dec. 30 (via Belfast Lough, Dec. 31). Montbretia and Rose are named among the escorts - see ON convoy escorts. On March 3-1942, she can be found in Convoy HX 178 from Halifax, and early the following month, she joined the westbound Convoy ON 83*, but put into Belfast Loch on Apr. 4, later joining Convoy ON 87* from there; her destination is given as Baytown, where she arrived May 8. ON 87 had started out from Liverpool on Apr. 16 and was dispersed on the 26th. Katy had rescued the 4 survivors of the 34-man crew of the American tanker Munger T. Ball on May 5, torpedoed and sunk that same day by U-507; see the external link below for more on this sinking. The captain's name is given as Karl Ragnar Olsen, which sounds very Norwegian. Katy is said to have landed these survivors at Key West - according to Page 2, she did sail to Key West from Baytown on May 13, arriving Key West, via Galveston, on May 18, but it seems more likely that the survivors had been landed on her arrival Baytown on the 8th(?). In June that same year, she's listed in Convoy HX 193 from Halifax. She arrived Stanlow on June 19, also making voyages to various other British ports (see Page 3), before joining the westbound Convoy ON 115*, which originated in Liverpool on July 24. Katy sailed from Milford Haven on July 23 and arrived her destination New York on Aug. 9, proceeding to Baltimore a few days later, then back to New York and on to Halifax, where she joined Convoy HX 205 on Aug. 30. Potentilla, Monbretia, Acanthus and Eglantine were among the escorts (see also the Commodore's suggestions for improvements of the convoy system). Katy had a cargo of gas oil for Glasgow, where she arrived on Sept. 12. She subsequently returned to New York with Convoy ON 131*, which originated in Liverpool on Sept. 18 and arrived New York Oct. 4 (Commodore in Abraham Lincoln); Katy had sailed from Clyde Sept. 19. Having made a voyage to Philadelphia, she returned to New York and on Oct. 18, we find her in Convoy HX 212, in which Kosmos II was sunk and Frontenac damaged - follow the links for details. The Commodore's report is also available for this convoy (Abraham Lincoln acted as Vice Commodore ship). Katy was bound for Swansea with gasoline and had station 111 of the convoy, arriving her destination on Nov. 4. Later that month, she joined Convoy ON 147* in order to head back to New York, where she arrived on Dec. 6, according to the archive document mentioned above (ON 147 had originated in Liverpool on Nov. 17 and is said to have arrived New York Dec. 4). Abraham Lincoln again served as Commodore Vessel. On Febr. 8-1943, she was one of several Norwegian ships in the New York-U.K. Convoy HX 226, for which Laurits Swenson served as Commodore Vessel. Katy's destination is given as Stanlow, and she arrived there on Febr. 25, according to Page 4, returning to New York with Convoy ON 170, which left Liverpool on March 3, arrived New York on the 20th and had a total of 12 Norwegian ships, as will be seen when following the link. On March 25, A. Hague has included her in Convoy HX 231*, which lost several ships (see the external link further down on this page). She had a cargo of aviation gas, sailing in station 63, and arrived Stanlow on Apr. 13/14, later returning across the Atlantic in Convoy ON 179*, which left Liverpool on Apr. 18 and arrived New York May 6. From the U.S., she now headed to Gibraltar on May 14, arriving June 2; again see the archive document as well as A. Hague's Voyage Record. On June 16, she made a voyage from Gibraltar to Bizerta, where she arrived June 20, having joined Convoy KMS 16*. According to A. Hague, she left again on July 1, joining Convoy MKS 16A (scroll down to the third table on that page) and arrived Gibraltar July 6 (this voyage is not included on Page 4). She subsequently went back to the U.S. (Convoy GUS 9 - link in the table above), then at the end of July she's listed as bound for Swansea in Convoy HX 250 from New York. She arrived her destination on Aug. 13, and a week later she joined the westbound Convoy ON 198*, which originated in Liverpool on Aug. 21 and arrived New York Sept. 4. She now remained in New York for several weeks, and the following month, she headed to Augusta, where she arrived Nov. 17. From there, she made a voyage to Port Said, arriving Nov. 30, having sailed in Convoy KMS 32*. In Dec.-1943, she made a voyage from Augusta to Bizerta with Convoy MKS 34, then joined Convoy GUS 25 for the U.S., arriving New York on Jan. 16-1944 - again, ref. external link in Voyage Record, which also shows her subsequent voyages, as does the archive document. On Febr. 27-1944, we find her in Convoy HX 281 from New York; Acanthus, Eglantine and Rose are named among the escorts - see HX convoy escorts. In March, she's listed in the westbound Convoy ON 229*, which sailed from Liverpool on March 23 and arrived New York Apr. 7 (Katy joined from Clyde). Acanthus and Eglantine again escorted for a while. Katy headed back across the Atlantic on Apr. 12 in Convoy HX 287. Her voyages in this period are shown on Page 5. Early in May, she started on another voyage to New York, where she arrived May 18, having sailed in Convoy ON 235* (Commodore in Reinholt). From the U.S., she proceeded to North Africa again the following month, and in July, she made a voyage from Oran to Port Said in Convoy KMS 56*, later from Port Said to Oran in MKS 57*. From Oran, where she had arrived Aug. 7, she now headed back to the U.S. on Aug. 12, having joined Convoy GUS 48, and arrived Chesapeake Bay on Aug. 28 (this convoy had originated in Port Said with 19 ships on Aug. 3, but several ships joined en route to Hampton Roads, while others left). Already on Aug. 31, she can be found in Convoy HX 306 from New York to the U.K., returning to New York with Convoy ON 256*, which originated in Liverpool on Sept. 28 and arrived New York Oct. 12 (Commodore in Abraham Lincoln). Later that month, she joined Convoy HX 315, having been cancelled from the previous convoy on Oct. 15, HX 314 (Commodore in Emma Bakke). The Norwegian Ivaran served as Commodore Vessel for HX 315. Katy arrived Liverpool Nov. 4, Eastham Nov. 6, Stanlow Nov. 8 and Manchester that same day. She subsequently joined the westbound Convoy ON 266*, which arrived New York Dec. 3, and a week later, she headed back to Oran (convoy info in Voyage Record). Having returned to the U.S. from Oran in Jan.-1945, she made another voyage to the U.K. with Convoy HX 343* from New York on March 9, arriving Liverpool March 24 (Page 5), and a few days later we find her in the westbound Convoy ON 293*, which arrived New York on Apr. 15 (Commodore in Tungsha). Her subsequent movements are shown on Page 6 (to Apr.-1946).
Related external links:
Katy was torpedoed and damaged by U-879(?)* (Erwin Manchen) on April 23-1945 east of Kitty Hawk, when on a voyage from New York to Houston, having left New York the day before. No one was killed, and she made it to Lynnhaven, Hampton Roads on April 26(?), and was repaired (according to Page 6 of the archive documents, she arrived Hampton Roads on Apr. 24, proceeding to Baltimore that same day, with arrival Apr. 26; that's probably where she was repaired). Among those on board at the time was Haugar Lyngås who had previously spent 20 days on a raft following the sinking of the Norwegian M/T Lise, as well as another 2 torpedo incidents. Follow the link for more details. U-879 was sunk with all hands just a few days later, on Apr. 30, by American vessels.
Page 6 also shows some of Katy's 1946 voyages. Related external links: Back to Katy on the "Ships starting with K" page.
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