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M/S Stirlingville To Stirlingville on the "Ships starting with S" page. Manager: A. F. Klaveness & Co. A/S, Oslo Built in Sunderland 1935 (W. Doxford & Sons Ltd.). Previous name: Stirling until 1936. Captain: ? Ulriksen, later Karl Johan Løvik, who had previously been the captain of Granville, Roseville and Fernglen Related items on this website:
According to the first external website that I've linked to at the end of this text, Stirlingville was in Convoy SL 35, which left Freetown on June 8-1940 and arrived Liverpool on the 26th. The Norwegian Eli and Para are also included. The same site has her in Convoy SL 121, which left Freetown on Sept. 3-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 21st. She had a cargo of grain and was bound for Loch Ewe from Fremantle. The company's Corneville is also listed. In Aug.-1943 she's mentioned in the Gibraltar-U.K. Convoy MKS 20, bound for Swansea with scrap - not sure where she had come from, possibly Tripoli; see MKS 18 and MKS 19 (scroll down on the pages. The fact that she's appears in both these seems odd, but I don't know if one of them is an error). The following month we find her in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ONS 18, which joined up with Convoy ON 202 and lost several ships, including Oregon Express and Skjelbred. Stirlingville was bound for New York on that occasion. In Nov.1943 she shows up in the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 147, general cargo for London. In Febr.-1944 she's listed among the ships leaving Halifax with Convoy SC 154 on the 28th, arrived Liverpool on March 15-1944. She was back in the U.S. in May, joining Convoy HX 291, which included several other Norwegian ships, among them Heranger, Høyanger (Vice Commodore ship), O. B. Sørensen, Para, Villanger, Vav, Minerva, Velox, and others. This convoy departed New York City on May 10 and arrived Liverpool on the 27th; Stirlingville was bound for Manchester with a general cargo. In Aug.-1944 we find her in the large Convoy HX 303 with 16 other Norwegian ships, namely Tanafjord, Dalfonn, Noravind, Atlantic, Sommerstad, Skotaas, Geisha, Thorhild, Petter, Romulus, Rena, Para, Titanian, Mui Hock, Fjordaas and Norse Lady, all listed on this website. Captain from Oct. 9-1944 was Karl Johan Løvik. Captain Løvik's story, which includes some of Stirlingville's voyages after he had joined her, can be found in Norwegian at the external link below. He says he relieved her previous captain by the last name of Ulriksen, who then took command of Vadsø. Captain Løvik says they (Stirlingville) took on bord a cargo in New York, departing on Oct. 21-1944 for Boston. In addition to her general cargo, she had 3000 tons ammunition as well as 7 tanks on deck. She subsequently joined a convoy for Halifax, where she joined a Trans-Atlantic convoy for the U.K. at the end of Oct. (see * below), in heavy fog and snow. 17 additional ships joined from Sydney, C.B. Stirlingville's final destination was London, so from Loch Ewe she joined a coastal convoy to Methil, where she joined another convoy for London, arriving the latter late in the evening of Nov. 27. In his account he also mentions Steward Nilsen, Mate Tallaksen, Mate Ask Terkelsen, and 2nd Mate Heffermehl, and adds that a V 2 bomb exploded not far away that evening, causing the entire ship to shake, and the whole time they were there, V1 and V2 bombs exploded all over London (see also one of my father's letters with regard to these bombs, Letter No. 4, which can be reached from this page).
Stirlingville remained in London until Dec. 7-1944, then left early the following morning in convoy for Methil where she joined a convoy for Loch Ewe, then a convoy bound for the U.S.* However, due to heavy weather, and the fact that the ships from Liverpool were delayed, Stirlingville had to return to Loch Ewe, where they waited most of the day before they could go out again to join the other ships at the designated meeting place. Brønnøy was also in this convoy, which on Christmas day encountered heavy hail. Captain Løvik describes how several ships lost their steering, so that the convoy was in complete chaos for a while, with many near collisions, and by the next morning, at least 8 ships had lost touch. Stirlingville was bound for Philadelphia, and arrived there on Jan. 4-1945, then left again for Boston on Febr. 1, and on to Halifax for convoy back to the U.K., again with tanks and ammunition (including depth charges and bombs), and again encountering heavy weather and fog (this was the slow Halifax-U.K. Convoy SC 167). About 2 weeks later, on March 2, just as the convoy was about to split up, some ships heading to Liverpool, others to New Haven, the Norwegian Novasli and the British King Edgar (Captain Løvik calls her King Edward) were torpedoed.
Stirlingville discharged her cargo in Liverpool for about 2 weeks, then returned to the U.S. in March, this time as Commodore vessel for the convoy*. Stirlingville arrived New York on Apr. 2-1945. She was ready to leave for Boston again on Apr. 21, then on to Halifax for a convoy to the U.K., as usual with ammunition and tanks, and while they were at sea, the news came that the war was over in Europe*. They arrived Liverpool on May 14, then left for the the U.S. again on May 29, bound for Baltimore to load a cargo of grain and general, this time sailing alone (Captain Løvik mentions a couple of times in his account that Stirlingville sailed for Fred. Olsen). The grain was initially meant for Glasgow, but due to a strike there, Stirlingville was ordered to Avonmouth, arriving July 12-1945, departing again in the evening of July 25 for New York, with arrival Aug. 9. Captain Løvik then paid off in order go home to Norway, while Mate Terkelsen took over as captain in his place. Stirlingville's next voyage was to Antwerp.
Captain Løvik died i Dec.-1990. Note that all westbound North Atlantic Convoys (ON and ONS), sailing in between the eastbound HX and SC convoys mentioned on this page, are now available, and will be added to my Convoys section. Stirlingville appears in several of them, as follows:
Renamed Georgios M II. (Greek) - not sure exactly when. Related external links: Lilleand Sjømannsforening has Captain Løvik's story; scroll down on the page for his WW II experiences. The site also has a picture of Stirlingville, which can be found by going to the S's on this page. Back to Stirlingville on the "Ships starting with S" page. The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "The Allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague, Captain Løvik's story of his life at sea, E-mails from R. W. Jordan and misc. (ref. My sources).
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