Owner: Skibs-A/S Senta
Manager: Ole L. Løkke, Oslo
Tonnage: 3785 gt, 6000 tdwt
Signal Letters: LDEW

Built by Union Iron Works, Alameda, California in 1917. Previous names: Regulus until 1938, Sirehav until 1939 (A. I. Langfeldt & Co., Kristiansand).

Captain: Conrad Rustad

Some War Voyages:

Senta, bound for Liverpool with lumber and paper is listed in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 45 in May-1940, having been cancelled from the previous convoys, HX 43 and HX 44. In Aug. that same year she was scheduled for Convoy HX 66, but instead joined the slow Convoy SC 2, in which the Norwegian Gro was sunk. At the end of Oct.-1940 she appears in station 82 of Convoy OB 237, which left Liverpool on Oct. 31-1940, dispersed on Nov. 2. Her destination on that occasion is given as Newfoundland. She returned to the U.K. later that month with Convoy SC 13, cargo of iron ore for Port Talbot. At the end of that year she's listed as scheduled, with destination Pepel, for Convoy OB 265, which left Liverpool on Dec. 26-1940, but did not sail. The external website that I've linked to below has more on the OB convoys mentioned here.

In May-1941 she was scheduled for the Gibraltar-U.K. Convoy HG 62, but instead joined the next convoy HG 63, bound for Port Talbot with iron ore in station 72. She may have been scheduled to join Convoy HX 139 from Wabana on July 22-1941, but the document is very blurry, so I'm not sure. There's a note for the ship in question saying that she was instead sent to the slow Convoy SC 38 (not available to me), which left Sydney, C.B. on July 22 and arrived Liverpool on Aug. 8. In Nov. that same year we find her in station 33 of the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 33 (she had initially started out in ON 31, but returned to port). Her destination is given as Sydney, C.B. on that occasion. She returned to the U.K. the following month with Convoy SC 59, bound for Ellesmere Port, cargo of aluminium and pulp.

In Jan.-1942 Senta, bound for Galveston, joined the westbound Convoy ON 55*. In March-1942 she's listed among the ships in Convoy SC 75, cargo of sulphur for Manchester, returning across the ocean in Apr. with the westbound Convoy ON 88*. At the end of May she joined Convoy SC 85, cargo of steel and lumber for Manchester, and at the end of the following month we find her listed as bound for Wabana with the westbound Convoy ON 108*. In the middle of July she was scheduled for the Newfoundland portion of Convoy SC 92, but instead joined the next convoy, SC 93, cargo of iron ore for Middlesbrough. At the end of Aug.-1942 she shows up in station 63 of the westbound Convoy ON 126 - follow links for more convoy details.

Some of the other merchant ships sunk: The British Empire Mersey 16 died, and Southern Empress 48 died, the Greek Nellie 32 died, the Yugoslavian Nikolina Matkovic 14 died, and the American Susana 38 died. Please go to my text under Potentilla for more on this battle, as well as D/S Fagersten and the external links at the end of this text.

Related external links:
Norwegians who died - 29 Norwegians are listed here; 2 of them had lost their lives earlier. According to "Våre falne" Oskar Larsen Kvinge died on Oct. 4-1941 following an explosion on board, when Senta was on a voyage from Sydney, Nova Scotia to a British port, and Stoker Olav Hopland died during an air attack in Cardiff on Jan. 2-1941.

Group Wotan and the Battle for Convoy SC 104 - Article with a very detailed description of the convoy battle (a section of Rob Fisher's Home Page).

SC-104, 12 - 16 Oct 1942

U-221 | Hans Hartwig Trojer