D/S Ledaal
Updated Dec. 11-2011

To Ledaal on the "Ships starting with L" page.

Pictures are available on this external page (click in them to make them larger).

Some Convoy Voyages:

For information on voyages made in between those discussed here, please see the documents received from the National Archives of Norway and A. Hague's Voyage Record above. Follow the convoy links provided for more details; several Norwegian ships took part.

Ledaal is listed among the ships in Convoy HN 9A from Norway to the U.K. at the end of Jan.-1940. She arrived Shields on Febr. 2, leaving again on the 5th, arriving Rochester Febr. 9.

When war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9, she was in Casablanca, having arrived that same day - see Page 1.

In June-1940, Arnold Hague has included her in Convoy OA 168GF, which left Southend on June 15, joined up with Convoy OB 168GF on the 17th, the combined convoy forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 34F. This convoy will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it (and escorts) are named on the page listing ships in all OG convoys. Note that Ledaal was not part of the combined convoy, and I'm not entirely sure she was in OA 168GF either; according to the archive document, she left Falmouth for New York on June 18 (unless this departure date is an error?), arriving her destination on July 7. OA 168GF is available via the external link provided in the Voyage Record; several Norwegian ships are listed.

She subsequently remained in New York for quite a while - departure is given as Sept. 11, when she proceeded to Sydney, C.B., with arrival on the 16th. She was scheduled for the slow Convoy SC 5 from there on Sept. 18, but instead joined the next convoy on Sept. 27, SC 6, steel and scrap for Middlesbrough (Page 1).

In Nov.-1940 she's listed among 12 Norwegian ships in Convoy OB 244. Ledaal is said to have joined from Oban and was bound for Wabana in ballast, station 66. (This convoy was attacked by U-boats and several ships were sunk, but all the Norwegian vessels escaped harm). However, at the external website that I've linked to at the end of this page, she appears again, with destination Sydney C.B., in Convoy OB 248, which left Liverpool on Nov. 23 and dispersed on the 26th, and again with destination Halifax in Convoy OB 256, originating in Liverpool on Dec. 8. Note that Convoy OB 244 had left Liverpool on Nov. 17, and she could not have made 3 voyages across the Atlantic within such a short scope of time, so could only have sailed in one of these convoys. In fact, when going back to Page 1 of the archive documents, we see that she left Oban on Dec. 9 and arrived Halifax on the 31st, so I believe she must have been in OB 256 (it'll be noticed that several of the other ships named in OB 244 also appear in OB 248).

With a cargo of lumber for Swansea, she was scheduled to return with the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 103 on Jan. 15-1941, but did not sail. She was also cancelled from the slow Convoy SC 21 at the end of that month, as well as from SC 22, but eventually got away with Convoy SC 24 on Febr. 28. The original Advance Sailing Telegram now gives her destination as Milford Haven and Plymouth - again, see also Page 1. In May we find her in station 12 of Convoy OB 321 (Karlander was sunk - Hallfried and Sildra are also named), which originated in Liverpool on May 11 and dispersed on the 17th (link in the table above). No destination is given for Ledaal, but from the archive document, we learn that she arrived Bermuda on May 31, having started out from Milford Haven on May 10. From Bermuda, she proceeded to Tampa that same day, later to New Orleans, where she spent several weeks (see Page 2), before returning to Tampa then on to Sydney, C.B., and according to Arnold Hague, she subsequently went back to the U.K. in Convoy SC 41* (in which Einvik was sunk - follow link for details), departing Sydney, C.B. on Aug. 24, arriving Liverpool on Sept. 11; Ledaal, cargo of phosphates, stopped at Loch Ewe that day. Later that year, she's said to have joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 39*, originating in Liverpool Nov. 21, but returned to port after having stranded (it looks like she had joined this convoy from Belfast Lough). The archive document says she arrived Ardrossan in tow on Nov. 29, remaining there for about a month, before proceeding to Clyde.

At the beginning of 1942 she's listed, with destination Freeport, in the westbound Convoy ON 60*, which left Liverpool on Jan. 26 and arrived Halifax Febr. 15; Ledaal, however, had detached from the convoy on Febr. 10, according to A. Hague, and arrived Galveston on Febr. 28, having started out from Clyde on Jan. 27. She continued to Freeport on March 5, with arrival the same day. At the end of March we find her in station 93 of Convoy SC 77 from Halifax to the U.K., cargo of sulphur for Ardrossan, where she arrived Apr. 16 (she had been cancelled from the previous convoy, SC 76). She subsequently appears to have spent a long time at Clyde (Page 2), before she joined the westbound Convoy ON 116*, originating in Liverpool on July 25. Her destination is given as Sydney, C.B., where she arrived, via Halifax, on Aug. 13, having started out from Clyde July 25. (She's mentioned in connection with Convoy SC 96 from Halifax on Aug. 11. This information is based on a diary, but she's not included in the original Advance Sailing Telegram, and she was not actually part of that convoy, she just happened to leave port at the same time as the SC 96 ships and the author of the diary probably assumed that she too was destined for this convoy - in fact, Arnold Hague has her in Convoy HS 40 from Halifax to Sydney, C.B. on Aug. 11 [external link], arriving Aug. 13, as already mentioned - again, see also the archive document).

A. Hague has later included her in Convoy SC 99, originating in Halifax on Sept. 5-1942; Ledaal, cargo of steel and pulp, joined from Sydney, C.B. and stopped at Belfast Lough on Sept. 20 before proceeding to Swansea that same day - her voyages in this period are shown on Page 3. As can be seen, she now made voyages around the U.K. - convoy info for some of these can be found in the Voyage Record. It'll be noticed that she appears to have spent a long time at Tyne, where she had arrived on Dec. 8-1942. Departure is given as March 13-1943. She also had a long stay in Cardiff that year, as well as in Southampton. According to Page 4, she had arrived there on May 24-1943 and did not leave until Sept. 9, when she proceeded to Plymouth.

The following month, she's said to have joined Convoy KMS 30*, departing Liverpool on Oct. 17. Ledaal, bound for Gibraltar, joined from Milford Haven, but returned to port, later joining Convoy OS 58/KMS 32, which sailed from Liverpool on Nov. 5 - Ledaal joined from Clyde. The Gibraltar portion (KMS 32*), in which Ledaal and several other Norwegian ships sailed, arrived there on Nov. 19, the convoy having split up the day before, while the rest of the ships continued to Freetown with the OS convoy. The external website that I've linked to within the Voyage Record has further info. She's also listed in Convoy KMS 33*, departing Gibraltar on Nov. 29. This convoy had originally started out from the U.K. on Nov. 16 as the combined Convoy OS 59/KMS 33 which split up on the 28th, the KMS ships proceeding to Gibraltar, while the OS convoy sailed on to Freetown. Note, however, that Ledaal was not present from the U.K. - as indicated, she joined the KMS convoy off Gibraltar, when it continued from there with Port Said as its final destination, after having been separated from the OS convoy. Ledaal was bound for Malta, where she arrived on Dec. 4, later continuing to Augusta and from there to Naples, where she arrived Dec. 22; again, see Page 4, which now shows another long gap in her voyages. According to A. Hague, she did not leave Naples until March 2-1944, arriving Messina March 4, proceeding to Malta that same day.

She's later listed in Convoy MKS 43*, originating in Port Said on March 10-1944, but Ledaal sailed from Algiers on March 19 and was bound for Gibraltar, with arrival March 22, remaining there until Sept. 21-1945, when she finally went back to the U.K. (For info, MKS 43 joined up with the Freetown Convoy SL 152 at Gibraltar on March 23, the combined convoy then proceeding to the U.K., but again, Ledaal was not present at that time).

* The ON, KMS and MKS convoys mentioned here will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course; in the meantime, the ships sailing in them (and escorts) are named in the sections listing ships in all ON convoys, ships in all KMS convoys and ships in all MKS convoys. The entire SC series will also be updated and completed (including the already existing ones), but for now, see ships in all SC convoys.

POST WAR:

Sold in June-1946, sailed as Gerodimos under Panamanian flag. Sold to Istanbul in 1949, sailed as Abant under Turkish flag until broken up in 1959. Again, compare with the information found on this external page.

Related external links:
OB convoys - Ledaal is listed in OB 248 (but probably did not sail - see narrative above). OA 168GF is also available, but Ledaal is not included in this convoy in this particular section of the site. The site also has information on the OS/KMS convoys and the SL/MKS convoys going in the other direction. (A. Hague's listing for these convoys can be found via this page).

See also this chronological
list of OA and OB convoys 1940 (The site also shows similar information for several other convoy series).

Back to Ledaal on the "Ships starting with L" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Våre gamle skip", Leif M. Bjørkelund & E. H. Kongshavn and misc.