D/S Silja

To Silja on the "Ships starting with S" page.


Received from Thorbjørn Andersen, Norway

Manager: K. Sandaas, Kragerø
Tonnage: 1259 gt.

Final fate - 1940:

Requisitioned by the Norwegian authorities in the fall of 1939 and was on a voyage from Trapani (Jan. 26) with a cargo of salt for Bergen via Gibraltar, departing Gibraltar on Febr. 5-1940 and was never heard from again (Norway still neutral). Torpedoed on Febr. 10-1940 by U-37 (Hartmann) and sunk 51 21N 11 32W.

Crew List - No survivors:
Info from the Norwegian magazine "Krigsseileren", Issue No. 1 for 1973, which says Silja had a complement of 15.

Casualties
† Captain Knut Jensen	† 1st Mate Johan Meidel Pedersen	† 2nd Mate Gudmund Hansen	† Able Seman Thomas Andersen	† Seaman Nils Pedersen	† Ordinary Seaman A. Tilts (Estonian)
† 1st Engineer Kristian Hjertaas	† 2nd Engineer Ludwig Karlsen	† Donkeyman Emery Elki	† Deckboy Ragnvald Hansen	† Stoker Kristian Juel Kristensen	† Stoker Nils Kristiansen
† Steward Einar Sørensen	† Galley Boy Kåre Svendsen	† Mess Boy Kåre Fridtjof Berg

Related external links:
Norwegians who died - 16 are commemorated here, birthdates and hometowns are included. The spelling of names are somewhat different from what I have here, and some of the titles are also different. Emery Elki (first name spelt Emerich) is listed as Donkeyman, Captain Knut Jensen is listed as Mate, and 2 extra stokers, Klaus Edvard Pedersen and Bjarne Schultz Klæboe are listed; They may have served on this ship and died in a separate incident(?)

Operation information for U-37 - As can be seen from this page, this U-boat was also responsible for the loss of other Norwegian ships.

U-37 | Werner Hartmann

Back to Silja on the "Ships starting with S" page.