Rose
Corvette
Updated Aug. 29-2010
To Rose on the "Ships starting with R" page.
Tonnage: 925 displacem. t.
Built by William Simons & Co. Ltd., Renfrew in 1941
5 British built, Flower class corvettes were taken over by the Norwegian Navy in the U.K. They were Montbretia, Eglantine, Acanthus and Rose in 1941, and Potentilla in Jan.-1942. The Norwegian navy was to be responsible for supplying the crews, their salary, food and uniforms, while other expenses were to be paid by Royal Navy. They were used as escorts in the North Atlantic and carried out over 80 attacks against U-boats. When Potentilla was returned to Royal Navy in March of 1944, she was replaced by a Castle class corvette, which was named Tunsberg Castle under the Norwegian flag. Buttercup, also Flower class, was transferred after the loss of Tunsberg Castle in 1944. See individual links for details on each corvette.
Other pages on this website with information related to this text:
Potentilla
Acanthus
Eglantine
Montbretia
Tunsberg Castle
Buttercup
Related item on this website:
Guestbook message - From the son of someone who survived the sinking of Rose. He later joined Buttercup.
Transcribed from a document received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database.
Follow the convoy links provided for more details on them - the links in bold text go to pages on my own website.
* The ON and ONS convoys mentioned below will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section; in the meantime, the ships sailing in them (and escorts) are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys and on the page for ships in all ONS convoys (escorts for the latter series can be found on this page).
Note also that the HX series will eventually be updated and completed, including the already existing convoys (some have already been updated); for now, please see ships in all HX convoys (with escorts). Other escorts for the SC convoys can be found on this page.
It'll be noticed that Eglantine and/or the other corvettes are also listed in some of these convoys. See also the narrative below.
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Convoy:
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Dates present:
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Convoy departed and arrived:
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1941
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ON 41*
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Nov. 27-Dec. 4
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From Liverpool Nov. 27, dispersed Dec. 11
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ON 44*
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Dec. 9-Dec. 12
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From Liverpool Dec. 7, dispersed Dec. 15
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ON 52*
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Dec. 31-Jan. 5-1942
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From Liverpool Dec. 31, dispersed Jan. 11-1942
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1942
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Jan. 9-Jan. 12
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From Sydney, C.B. Dec. 27-1941, dispersed Jan. 12-1942
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Jan. 30-Febr. 1
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From Halifax Jan. 20, to Liverpool Febr. 1
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ON 64*
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Febr. 8-Febr. 13
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From Liverpool Febr. 7, to Halifax Febr. 24
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Febr. 17-Febr. 20
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From Halifax Febr. 7, to Liverpool Febr. 21
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ON 73*
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March 6-March 16
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From Liverpool March 5, dispersed March 16
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March 30-Apr. 7
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From Halifax March 27, to Liverpool Apr. 9
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ON 86*
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Apr. 14-Apr. 26
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From Liverpool Apr. 14, to Cape Cod Apr. 29
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May 12-May 22
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From Halifax May 7, to Liverpool May 23
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ON 101*
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June 6-June 14
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From Liverpool June 5, to Boston June 18
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June 21-July 2
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From Sydney, C.B. June 19, to Liverpool July 4
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Oct. 3-Oct. 8
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From Clyde Oct. 1, to Gibraltar Oct. 14
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Oct. 8-Oct. 13
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From Gibraltar Oct. 2, to Liverpool Oct. 14
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Oct. 12(?)-Oct. 14
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From Freetown Sept. 23, to Liverpool Oct. 14
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ON 144*
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Nov. 8-Nov. 20
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From Liverpool Nov. 7, to New York City Nov. 27
(see also Montbretia) |
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Dec. 4-Dec. 14
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From New York City Nov. 27, to Liverpool Dec. 14
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1943
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ONS 1*
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March 21-March 31
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From Liverpool March 15, to Halifax Apr. 4
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Apr. 4-Apr. 15
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From Halifax March 31, to Liverpool Apr. 15
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ONS 6*
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May 4-May 14
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From Liverpool Apr. 29, to Halifax May 17
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May 22-May 30
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From Halifax May 18, to Liverpool May 31
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ON 189*
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June 17-June 24
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From Liverpool June 16, to New York City July 1
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July 6-July 13
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From New York City June 30, to Liverpool July 14
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ON 194*
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July 25-Aug. 2
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From Liverpool July 24, to New York City Aug. 7
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Aug. 13-Aug. 22
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From New York City Aug. 7, to Liverpool Aug. 23
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ONS 17*
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Sept. 2-Sept. 12
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From Liverpool Aug. 31, to Halifax Sept. 16
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HX 257*
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Sept. 22-Sept. 29
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From New York City Sept. 16, to Liverpool Sept. 30
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ON 206*
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Oct. 12-Oct. 21
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From Liverpool Oct. 11, to New York City Oct. 27
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Oct. 28-Nov. 6
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From Halifax Oct. 24, to Liverpool Nov. 7
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Nov. 20-Nov. 29
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From Liverpool Nov. 19, to New York City Dec. 5
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Dec. 6-Dec. 13
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From Halifax Dec. 2, to Liverpool Dec. 16
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1944
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ON 218*
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Jan. 2-Jan. 11
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From Liverpool Dec. 31-1943, to New York City Jan. 18-1944
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Jan. 18-Jan. 30
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From Halifax Jan. 14, to Liverpool Jan. 31
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ONS 29*
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Febr. 13-Febr. 25
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From Liverpool Febr. 12, to Halifax Febr. 29
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March 5-March 14
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From New York City Febr. 27, to Liverpool March 15
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EBM 1
(external link - incomplete)
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June 1
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From Clyde June 1 (to Seine Bay)
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June 13-June 14
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From Southend June 13, to Seine Bay June 14
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June 17-June 18
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From Southend June 17, to Seine Bay June 18
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July 4
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From Seine Bay July 4, to Southend July 5
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ON 252*
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Sept. 8
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From Liverpool Sept. 7, to New York City Sept. 22
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Sept. 26-Oct. 5
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From New York City Sept. 21, to Liverpool Oct. 5
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ON 260*
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Oct. 17-Oct. 26
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From Southend Oct. 15, to Halifax Oct. 30
Sunk - See "Final Fate" below
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Only a few of her voyages are mentioned here. For information on others, please see A. Hague's Voyage Record above. Follow the links provided for further details; several Norwegian ships took part.
Rose is listed among the escorts for Convoy HX 217 in Dec.-1942 (as are Eglantine and Potentilla), joining the convoy at daylight on Dec. 5, according to the Commodore's notes. The Commodore's narrative is also available.
Rose and Potentilla can also be found among the escorts for Convoy HX 246 in July-1943, along with Acanthus. At the end of Nov.-1943 Potentilla, Eglantine and Rose are mentioned among the escorts for the westbound Convoy ON 212.
Rose (Lieutenant Leif Rosenvold Lund) was escorting Convoy ON 260, which had departed Southend on Oct. 15-1944, when she was rammed by the British frigate Manners on Oct. 26. Ships sailing in this convoy are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys (Commodore was in Høyanger); other escorts are listed on this page. She was struck amidships on the starboard side and was so badly damaged she sank in a few minutes. As many of the crew as the lifeboats would hold rowed towards a destroyer which picked them up, while the rest, including the captain launched the rafts and jumped overboard to swim towards them. In addition to being worried about being pulled under by the suction as the ship sank, they were also concerned about the depth charges on the aft deck of Rose, set to detonate at a depth of 50 ft. But fortunately, lieutenant Alf Tenvik had already thought of that. He had been the next-in-command on Montbretia when that ship was torpedoed and sunk in Nov.-1942 with the loss of 47 men, and "he had not forgotten that the vessel's own depth charges had exploded*, making life hell for those who were in the water when she sank". With that in mind, he ran to the after deck and "secured" the depth charges, one by one. When he was done with the last one he was standing in water up to his chest, and as Rose sank he was pulled way under with her, but managed to get to the surface again and was rescued. Out of a complement of 75, 3 died, namely Helge Phill-Kristensen, Sigurd Rørvik and Petter Sørgaard. (Source: An article in "Krigsseileren", Issue 4, 1994 - According to this article Tunsberg Castle was also among the escorts, and Arnold Hague agrees. He has also included Buttercup, which came under the Norwegian flag not long thereafter.
* The statement above that Monbretia's depth charges had exploded among the survivors conflicts with my text for Monbretia. The source I've used for that summary indicates that the primers had been pulled out of the depth charges before she sank, thereby making them harmless. However, one of the survivors of Rose's sinking (Kristian Olsen) had also previously survived the sinking of Monbretia, and he too mentions that the depth charges exploded among them. According to him, the sinking of Rose was a case of mistaken identity, with the frigate mistaking her for a U-boat, discovering the mistake too late.
Related external link:
Convoy escort movements - Lists the escort movements of all escorts during the war (including Rose and the other Norwegian corvettes- scroll down on this page).
HNoMS Rose - K 102 - Part of Uboat.net's section on allied warships.
Back to Rose on the "Ships starting with R" page.
The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, and misc. as mentioned within above text (ref. My sources).
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