D/S Tautra
Updated Aug. 19-2012

To Tautra on the "Ships starting with T" page.


Source: Bjørn Milde's postcard collection.

Misc. Voyages:

For information on voyages made in between those mentioned here, please see the documents received from the National Archives of Norway and A. Hague's Voyage Record above. Follow the links provided for more convoy information; escorts' reports and/or the Commodore's notes are also available for some of them and several Norwegian ships took part.

Tautra is listed in Convoy HN 9A from Norway to the U.K. in Jan.-1940. She had started out in Trondheim and arrived Preston on Febr. 5. Early in March, A. Hague has included her in Convoy ON 17A to Norway, and at the end of that month, shortly before the German invasion of Norway, she joined Convoy HN 22, bound for Rochester with a cargo of pulp, thereby ending up in Allied control - as will be seen when following the link, this convoy was attacked by aircraft, but no ships were hit. According to Page 1 of the archive documents, Tautra was on a voyage from Oslo, via Bergen, and arrived Rochester (via Methil and Tyne) on Apr. 4, departing for London on the 9th, the day Norway was invaded. She subsequently remained in London for several weeks.

In June-1940 she's listed (together with Thorstrand) in Convoy OA 161, departing Southend on June 3. This convoy joined up with Convoy OB 161 on June 5, the combined convoy forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 32*. However, Tautra was only bound for Portland, arriving there June 6, later joining Convoy OA 166, which had originated at Southend on June 11 and joined up with OB 166 on the 13th, forming the Gibraltar bound Convoy OG 33*. Tautra's destination is given as Barry on that occasion, so she was not part of the OG convoy. She arrived Barry June 14, having sailed from Portland on the 12th. Balzac and Madrono are also named in OA 166 - ref. link in the Voyage Record.

* Ships sailing in these convoys are named on the page listing ships in all OG convoys (OG 32 and OG 33 will be added to individual pages in due course - note, however, that Tautra is not included in any of these).

Later that month we find Tautra, with destination Pugwash, in Convoy OB 174, which had originated in Liverpool on June 25, dispersed on June 30, and also included Ferncastle, Helgøy, Hird, Litiopa and Notos (again, see the link provided in the table above). Her arrival Pugwash is not given on Page 1, but she later arrived Halifax on July 19 in order to join a convoy back to the U.K. Although she's not listed on the convoy form for the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 59 on July 19, there's mention of her in the notes as having lost touch with this convoy the following night, and she is named in the Advance Sailing Telegram, which says she had a cargo of lumber (scroll down on my page about HX 59). According to the archive document, she arrived Greenock on Aug. 2, proceeding to Dundee a few days later. Together with Ara, A. Hague later has her in Convoy OA 210, which left Methil on Sept. 6 and was dispersed Sept. 10, Tautra arriving Sydney, C.B. independently on the 21st. Having made voyages to Richibucto and Newcastle, N.B., she returned to Sydney, C.B. and was scheduled to go back to the U.K. with Convoy SC 7 in which Snefjeld and several others were sunk in Oct.-1940 (follow the links for details; see also escort's report), but instead joined the next convoy on Oct. 15, SC 8, cargo of pit props for Tyne (as can be seen when going back to the archive document, she had arrived Sydney, C.B. too late to join the previous convoy).

She now made voyages around the U.K. for the rest of that year, as well as all through the following year (Page 1, Page 2 & Page 3), except for a voyage to Iceland in July-1941. For this voyage, A. Hague has included her, together with Audun, Grena and Storaas, in Convoy OB 348, which started out in Liverpool on July 17 and had Halifax as its final destination (link in Voyage Record) - Tautra arrived Reykjavik on July 23, having sailed from Loch Ewe on the 19th. She headed back to the U.K. again on Aug. 14, sailing independently.

More voyages around the U.K. now followed, through 1942 and well into 1943 (Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7 and Page 8) until she on May 20-1943 headed to Gibraltar in Convoy KX 10 (ref. link in Voyage Record - Hallfried, Jan [returned] and Marita are also named), with arrival there on May 31, continuing to Algiers, where she arrived June 4, having sailed in Convoy KMS 15 - her voyages in this period are shown on Page 9. This convoy will also be added to an individual page in my Convoys section, but for now, please see the section listing ships in all KMS convoys; Brisk, Regin and South America are also included. (Tautra did not go back to the U.K. until Sept.-1945).

At the beginning of Sept.-1943, we find her in Convoy MKS 23 - scroll down to the second table on that page. According to the archive document, she arrived Algiers (from Philippeville) on Sept. 3. From Algiers, she later proceeded to Malta, where she remained for a month, before heading to Bizerta with Convoy MKS 29, arriving her destination on Oct. 30. She now made voyages to Algiers, Bougie, Philippeville, back to Bizerta then on to Augusta and Salerno, and early in Dec.-1943, she's mentioned in Convoy MKS 33, voyage Malta to Bizerta - again, scroll down to the second table on my pages for both these convoys (Malta is not mentioned for this time period on the archive document, but it's possible a voyage is missing?). Tautra arrived Bizerta on Dec. 8. Her subsequent movements are shown on Page 9, which also has some 1944 voyages.

I have a little snippet of information stating that Tautra was in Augusta on July 9-1944, leaving that day for an unknown destination. According to Page 10, she left Augusta for Bizerta on July 8 - the difference in date here could simply be due to different time zones used in records. She arrived Bizerta on July 10, continuing to Philippeville that same day. Her 1945 voyages also start on this document, with more on Page 11. Convoy information for some of them can be found in A. Hague's Voyage Record above. See also Page 12, where we learn that she went home to Norway in Sept.-1945, and again in Nov.-1945.

It'll be noticed, when going to the various archive documents, that she occasionally had long stays in port.

More information on the other Norwegian ships mentioned here is available via the alphabet index at the bottom of this page, or go to the Master Ship Index.

POST WAR:

Returned by Nortraship to owners on Oct. 1-1945, continued in North Sea service. Sold in Apr.-1956 to Societa Rosamaris di Navigazione (Francesco Longobardo), Messina, Italy, renamed Rosasicula. Registered in Palermo 1961. Ran aground near Ras el-Tin on July 7-1962, on a voyage Ravenna-Alexandria with fertilizer. Wreck broke in two on Dec. 22-1962, broken up locally.

Back to Tautra on the "Ships starting with T" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Misc. sources, including: A. Hague's database, "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan, pre war info was received from T. Eriksen, Norway - his source: Article about Torkildsens Rederi in "Skipet" 2.2003 by Dag Bakka Jr. - and misc. other.