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D/S Solferino To Solferino on the "Ships starting with S" page. Owner: Den Norske Middelhavslinje A/S Built at Nylands Verksted, Oslo in 1918, purchased 1921. Captain: Rudolf Nyegård. Other itmes on my website with info related to this text:
Solferino is listed as sailing in the Gibraltar-U.K. Convoy HGF 29 in May-1940, bound for Portland, then Kirkaldy with cork shavings. At the end of July-1940 we find her mentioned in Convoy OA 190, but was only bound for Aberdeen, station 107. Several other Norwegian ships took part, with destinations further afield. Solferino is also listed as bound for Aberdeen with Convoy OA 192 on July 30, station 35 (see the external links provided below). In Sept. that year she was scheduled for the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 74, pulp wood for Barrow, but did not sail, and instead joined the next convoy, HX 75. Towards the end of Nov. she shows up in Convoy OB 248, leaving Liverpool on Nov. 23 and dispersed on the 26th - her destination is given as Sydney C.B. In Jan. the following year she was scheduled for Convoy HX 101, but was cancelled. She had a cargo of steel and dry pulp for Manchester, and joined the next convoy, HX 102. Related external links:
She was on a voyage from Manchester to Freetown with a cargo of 1500 tons coal when she was hit by two bombs from a German aircraft (FW 200) on Febr. 26-1941 and set on fire amidships. Abandoned, position 55 02N 16 25W. 2 died on board, the survivors were picked up by the Swedish ship Gdynia, which had a military doctor as passenger on board (by the name of Surgeon Leut. Leaven) who took care of the 5 injured men, but the captain died the same day, making the final number of casualties 3. Gdynia turned around and took the survivors to Greenock, arriving March 1. At the time of this attack Solferino was in station 12 of Convoy OB 290, which earlier that morning (or 25th, depending on time zone used) had been attacked by U-47. I've added the abstract of the Commodore Ship M/S Samuel Bakke's Log as well as Commodore Admiral Hornell's report about the attacks on OB 290 (includes names of ships sunk/damaged). The maritime hearings were held in Greenock on March 4-1941 with 1st Mate Jakob Mørbeck Grimstad, 2nd Mate Morten Hoff, Carpenter Daniel Børresen, Boatswain Andreas Prydtz (at the wheel), and 1st Engineer Alf B. Andersen appearing, stating as follows:
2nd mate Hoff, who was on duty on the bridge stated that he had seen the Greek vessel sailing behind them (station 13) being bombed immediately prior to the attack on Solferino (this must have been Kyriakoula). He then ran to the starboard side of the bridge where the Lewis gun was ready for use, but before anything could be done, they were hit themselves. One of the casualties, Thorbjørn Larsen had been on look-out duty on top of the wheel house, and after the bomb explosion he was not seen again. Steward Aasmund Kleve had last been seen on gun duty on the poop by the 1st engineer earlier that morning between 3 and 4. 1st mate Mørbeck Grimstad said that the attack happened around 10 o'clock while he was in bed; he was awakened by machine gun fire. (He also stated that the Greek vessel, as well as a British ship in station 15 appeared as if they had been bombed. There were 2 British ships, namely Llanwern and Mahanada, but I don't know which station they were in - ref. list of victims in the OB 290 report). The 1st bomb hit the port lifeboat and the second between the amidships superstructure and the saloon house. The starboard boat was launched immediately with 20 men, while the remaining survivors readied the motor boat. The donkeyman had shut off the steam to the main engine before proceeding to the lifeboat. Captain Nyegaard, who had been in bed in his cabin, having been up all night due to the previous U-boat attacks had been severely injured and when he came out on the promenade deck he instructed the 1st mate to try to get hold of the ship's papers, whereupon Mørbeck Grimstad attempted to get from No. 2 hatch through a window into the glass veranda, being as both ladders to the promenade deck had been blown away. But encountering nothing but flames and smoke he had to turn around, though was able to get the ship's logbook and some blankets from his cabin. About 20 minutes after the attack had started the motor boat pushed off with 10 men, including the captain and the 1st mate, after the cabins amidships and aft had been searched for possible survivors, and 5 minutes later they heard the first explosion from the ammunition on board. The saloon was ablaze, and the chart room collapsed so that the bag containing the Admiralty papers left behind was thought to have burnt up before the ship sank. When they last saw her at 11:45 she had a list of about 15° to port. The survivors in both boats had been picked up by Gdynia about 10:40 where they received first aid, as mentioned, but the captain died at 16:30 from internal injuries. The British gunner R. Snape had a broken arm, the 2nd mate received a cut on his arm, Ordinary Seaman Haakon Nilsen had an injured foot, while Stoker Bjarne Kristoffersen had a wound at the back of his head.
Crew List:
Related external links: Bombers & Ground Attack - info on the various types of German bombers (on the website Luftwaffe Resource Center). Back to Solferino on the "Ships starting with S" page. Other ships by this name: Norway had also lost a steamship by this name to WW I, built 1900, 1155 gt (Otto Thoresen) - sunk by UC-47 off Ushant on March 15-1917. (Italy had a small destroyer named Solferino in WW II, lost Oct.-1944). The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume II, Norwegian Maritime Museum, and misc - ref My sources.
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