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Owner: A/R Atlantic Built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Wallsend, Sunderland in 1930. Captain: Harald Hansen In Admiralty service from 1940 (Royal Fleet Auxiliary).
Sveve is listed among the ships in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 41 in May-1940 ( (having been cancelled from the previous convoys, HX 39 and HX 40). She had sailed from Curacao on Apr. 21-1940 and arrived Halifax on May 2. In June she's listed, with destination Carapito, in Convoy OB 175, which left Liverpool on June 27, dispersed on the 30th. At the end of July that year she was in Halifax again, joining Convoy HX 62 which included several Norwegian ships (see also HX 60, Bermuda portion). Sveve eventually lost touch with this convoy in dense fog - follow the link for more details. She shows up again in the Advance Sailing Telegram for HX 63, with a note saying "To be held at Halifax to await orders". The external site that I've linked to below has her in Convoy HX 68 in Aug.-1940. As will be seen, she's not included on my own page for that convoy, but my information is incomplete (Bermuda portion only is available). The following month she joined Convoy OB 214, departing Liverpool on Sept. 15, dispersed Sept. 18. In Oct.-1940 she sailed in Convoy HX 81 (Bermuda portion), and the following month she's listed in Convoy OB 241, which left Liverpool on Nov. 9 and dispersed on the 14th. No destination is given for her on that occasion (ref. external link below). In Dec.-1940 we find her in HX 96, again joining from Bermuda. In Febr.-1941 she joined Convoy OB 289, departing Liverpool on Febr. 20, but is said to have put back with defects. She shows up again in Convoy OB 299 in March, bound for Curacao, leaving Liverpool on March 19-1941 - again, ref. the external link below for more details on the OB convoys. At the end of the following month she joined Convoy HX 122, bound for Reykjavik with fuel oil, and in June that same year she shows up in Convoy HX 134, bound for Reykjavik with Admiralty fuel, joining the convoy from Bermuda. Again, a number of other Norwegian ships also sailed in these convoys, as will be seen by following the links. She's also listed in Convoy OB 347, which left Liverpool on July 16, dispersed on the 31st - Sveve joined this convoy from Iceland. In Oct.-1941 we find her in station 55 of Convoy HX 153 along with the Norwegian Katy, Temeraire, Haakon Hauan, Ferncastle, Bonneville, Lista, Santos as well as an unnamed Norwegian tanker. Going back to the external website below, Sveve can be found scheduled for Convoy OS 14 in Dec.-1941, but did not sail - she is, however, listed as bound for Trinidad in one of the westbound North Atlantic convoys that month, namely Convoy ON 48, which left Liverpool on Dec. 19, dispersed on the 31st. (will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section, along with further info). The same external site has her scheduled for SL 114 from Freetown in June-1942, but she cancelled and joined the next convoy, SL 115, which left Freetown on July 5-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 26th. She was on a voyage from Curacao to Clyde, cargo of fuel oil, station 42. Follow the link for additional details on these convoys. Related external link:
Sveve departed Clyde in ballast on Sept. 4-1942 and was in station 32 of Convoy ON 127 on a voyage from Glasgow to New York and Curaçao when she at 14:37 GCT on Sept. 10-1942 was torpedoed by U-96 (Hellriegel), 51 30N 27 55W*. At the time of attack she was proceeding at a speed of 8 1/2 knots in fine weather with calm sea and very good visibility, wind southwest force 2-3. The torpedo was seen approaching and the rudder put hard to port, but it struck 6-8 feet below the surface on the port side near No. 5 main tank (almost empty). Within 4 minutes, this tank as well as the pumproom were full of water, the summer tank beneath the port No. 5 tank was gone, as was the bottom of No. 3 summer tank, and the bulkheads to the starboard tank were blown to pieces. 20 long holes were visible in the ship's starboard side above the water line, the deck above No. 3 summer tank was torn up and cracked, the fore and aft bridge was damaged and the steering gear and cargo line were broken. All 39 (incl. 2 gunners) survived and after having examined the damages they all left the ship in 4 lifeboats 20 minutes after the attack had occurred. Within an hour they were picked up by the escorting Canadian corvette HMCS Sherbrooke (K 152, Flower class, see related link below) which tried to sink her by firing about 15 shells into her. She eventually sank by the stern that evening after the valves had been opened by 4 of the corvette's crew as well as Sveve's 1st and 2nd mates, the 2nd engineer and an able seaman who had reboarded the ship. The crew was landed in St. John's on Sept. 16 and an inquiry was held there on Sept. 19-1942 with the captain, the 2nd mate (officer on watch on the bridge), Able Seaman Stang (helmsman) and the 1st engineer attending.
As will be seen by going to my page about Convoy ON 127, this convoy had several Norwegian ships. See also my text for Hindanger, Daghild, Marit II and Fjordaas, as well as the external link at the end of this page to ON 127 for more info on this convoy battle. Crew List - No casualties:
Related external links: Naval Museum of Manitoba - linked directly to the RCN Ships Image Database, a picture of Sherbrooke and technical information on the corvette can be found there. Back to Sveve on the "Ships starting with S" page. 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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