Site Map | Search Warsailors.com | Merchant Fleet Main Page | Warsailors.com Home |
|
D/S Lysland To Lysland on the "Ships starting with L" page. Manager: Thv. Halvorsen, Bergen Built at Blyth in 1907. Previous name: Ryhope. According to R. W. Jordan she was managed by J & C Harrison Ltd., London during the war. Captain: Karl William Munch Asbjørnsen (from ca. March-1940).
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. Errors may exist, and several voyages are missing (including all 1942 and 1943 voyages).
A. Hague has named Lysland in the Norway-U.K. Convoy HN 7 in Jan.-1940. The following month he has her in Convoy ON 10 from the U.K. to Norway, and a few days later she's listed in the original Advance Sailing Telegram for Convoy HN 11, bound for Tyne in ballast. At the end of that month A. Hague has included her in Convoy ON 16, which arrived Norway on March 2. Follow the links for more details; several Norwegian ships took part in all these convoys. According to "Nortraships flåte" she was en route from Finneid (shipping port for the Sulitjelma mines) to Holland the day before the German invasion of Norway. She was stopped at Hustadvika in the morning of Apr. 8-1940 by a British warship informing them that the waters had been mined. She proceeded to Kristiansund, Norway where she stayed until the early morning hours of Apr. 9, then continued towards Holland, having been given the position of the minefield by then. The captain still didn't know about the German attack until later that morning when he heard the news on the radio. He took the ship to Molde for supplies, then went to Kleive. In the days to follow she experienced air attacks, and when she on Apr. 22 was in Ålesund for bunkers she had to leave because of the bombing. At Ellingsøy she experienced yet another bombing attack. 2 days later, on Apr. 24, the captain decided to sail for Scotland, and she was in allied service for the rest of the war. See also Page 1. Her 1941 voyages start on Page 2 and continue on Page 3, Page 4 and Page 5. The latter document also shows some of her 1942 voyages, as do Page 6 and Page 7. She was in service transporting coal between the east coast of the U.K. and London when she on Oct. 14-1942 was hit by a torpedo from the German E-boat S-75 in the Hearty Knoll channel off Cromer. She was in an east coast convoy at the time (FN 38 - available at the external link below, but listing is incomplete). Two ships were hit, one being Lysland, but she stayed afloat. The resulting fire on board was extinguished and she was taken in tow to Immingham the same day. I've been told by a visitor to my website that the other ship was George Balfour which was towed to Yarmouth in two halves - his source: "Battle of the East Coast". Lysland's 1st mate and 2nd engineer had been killed in the attack*, and were buried in Grimsby. After repairs** she continued in the same service until the spring of 1944.
The rest of her 1943 voyages are listed on Page 8, Page 9 and Page 10 (the latter document also has some early 1944 voyages). Lysland took part in Operation Neptune in June-1944. She's said to have acted as the Vice Commodore ship for a convoy of 80 ships arriving Normandie on D-Day, June 6 (as can be seen in the Voyage Record, Arnold Hague has her in Convoy EBC 2Z at this time, but it did not have 80 ships - external link, the Norwegian Erica is also included). In addition to war stores Lysland also had 200 American soldiers on board. She unloaded her cargo near the American sector Omaha until June 12, then continued going back and forth between the U.K. and the coast of France, making 4 more trips with cargoes of ammunition only; these voyages are not detailed on the archive documents showing her voyages for the summer/fall of 1944 (Page 11 and Page 12). A. Hague's Voyage Record above lists some more convoys for this time period. She was the first merchant ship to carry food supplies directly from London to Antwerp on Nov. 26-1944 (voyage not included on Page 13). Her 1945 voyages start on Page 13, while the rest are shown on Page 14, Page 15 and Page 16 (up to and including most of Febr.-1946).
Sold in 1951 and renamed Vomero. Sold by Lorenzo de Medici, Italy, to Italian breakers, and arrived Spezia on Jan. 8-1960 to be broken up. Again, see also this external page for some more detailed history. Related external links: Stavern Memorial commemorations - This website states that a total of 3 died in the attack mentioned in the narrative above. Omaha Beach - includes several Maps Back to Lysland on the "Ships starting with L" page. Other ships by this name: This company had another ship by the name Lysland during WW I. Originally delivered in Nov.-1886 as Samuel Tyzack for Tyzack & Branfoot, Sunderland, 1753 gt. From 1896 she sailed as Rjukan for W. Holby, Christiania, then from June-1904 she belonged to A/S Hekla (Mail & Holby). Purchased by D/S A/S Manto (B. Stolt-Nielsen), Haugesund on July 10-1915, renamed Manto. Sold to Thv. Halvorsen in March-1916, renamed Lysland. Sunk by U-30 on Oct. 26-1916, 26 n. miles southwest of Skudenes on a voyage Kirkenes-Middlesbrough. (Våre gamle skip", Leif M. Bjørkelund & E. H. Kongshavn). Also, Halfdan Grieg & Co. A/S, Bergen had a Lysland delivered to them in Jan.-1964, 20 423 gt. Later sailed as Fruen for an owner in Oslo from 1970, before being sold to China in 1973 and renamed Wei Hai. Sank following a collision in the spring of 1994. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||