M/S Tricolor
Updated Febr. 4-2011

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


Source: Bjørn Pedersen's collection.

The Australian War Memorial also has a picture of this ship, taken in Fremantle in Dec.-1941 (external links). From Page 3 of the archive documents, we learn that she had arrived there on Dec. 17.
See also this external page.

Some Convoy Voyages:

Tricolor usually sailed independently, but every now and again she would join a convoy. 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.

As will be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Tricolor was on her way from Rangoon to Singapore when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. She arrived Singapore on Apr. 10, later proceeding to Hong Kong.

That summer, she's listed in Convoy SLF 41, which left Freetown on July 28 and arrived Liverpool on Aug. 14 (having joined up with Convoy SL 41 on Aug. 8 - ref. link in Voyage Record). Tricolor was bound for Belfast in station 92 of the convoy, and arrived that destination on Aug. 12, according to the archive document. The company's Temeraire is also listed, while Wilhelmsen's Tancred sailed in SL 41.

The following month we find her, together with Diana, Mathilda and Nyland, in Convoy OA 218, departing Methil on Sept. 22, dispersed Sept. 27. That same day, she rescued the survivors from Tancred, which had been torpedoed and sunk the day before, and landed them in New York on Oct. 3 (follow the link to Tancred above for details).

Her 1941 voyages start on Page 2, while her 1942 voyages are shown on Page 3. It'll be noticed, when going to the latter document, that she spent a long time in Sydney, where she had arrived from Adelaide on March 17-1942; departure is given as Oct. 1 when she proceeded to Port Kembla. According to A. Hague, she had been in need of engine repairs. Some of her 1943 voyages are also listed on this document, with the rest on Page 4, which also has some 1944 voyages. As can be seen, she occasionally had long stays in port.

In the summer of 1944, she's listed among the ships in Convoy GUS 47, which left Port Said on July 24; Tricolor was on a voyage from Fremantle (where she had had a long stay) for Naples/Castellamare/Augusta, and left the convoy on July 29, as did Polartank, which had also joined the convoy in Port Said, together with Kong Sverre, Fernplant and Lidvard, while Topdalsfjord later joined from Bizerta. Page 5 has Tricolor's voyages in this period, while convoy info for some of them can be found in the table above.

She's said to have made a voyage from Augusta to Bone in Sept.-1944, having joined Convoy MKS 61. This convoy departed Port Said Sept. 6 and arrived Gibraltar Sept. 17; Tricolor, however, had left Augusta on Sept. 11 and arrived Bone on the 14th. MKS 61 will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section in due course; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it are named in the section listing ships in all MKS convoys. Belnor, Borgholm, Ima and Polartank are also included.

From Page 6, we learn that she got to go home to Norway in Aug.-1945. This document lists her voyages to Apr.-1946.

POST WAR:

On Febr. 28-1956, a fire broke out in the jute in No. 3 'tweendeck when she was near Rangoon on a voyage from Chittagong to Oslo with general cargo. Beached the next day on Liffey Sands but broke in two and became a total loss. The wreck was sold to L. Bauer of London on Sept. 22-1956 and a local salvor was engaged to salvage her cargo.

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

Other ships by this name: This was the 4th in a line of 6 ships by this name owned by Wilh. Wilhelmsen through the years. The company's 1st Tricolor was built in 1904, wrecked in fog the following year off Eureka, California on a voyage Nanaimo, B. C. to San Francisco with coal. Their 2nd Tricolor (built 1906) had been sold to Germany in 1925 and renamed Wittekind, bombed and sunk by British aircraft on Jan. 14-1944 on a voyage Narvik-Germany. The company had lost their 3rd Tricolor on Jan. 5-1931, built 1925, 6119 gt - sunk by internal explosions on a voyage from Oslo and Hamburg to Yokohama carrying large consignments of chemical products. Wilhelmsens 5th Tricolor was built in 1959, renamed Troja in 1971, became Panamanian Belalcazar in 1979, then Kota Makmur of Singapore 1980, scrapped in China 1985. A 6th Tricolor was built in 1972, became the Cape Diamond for the U.S. Reserve Fleet in 1985. Wilhelmsen also had a more recent Tricolor, which sank with almost 3000 luxury cars after having been struck by the container ship Kariba on Dec. 14-2002. Several vessels later struck the wreck (Nicola, Vicky). Salvaged and broken up by Smit-Tak?

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: Wilh. Wilhelmsen fleet list and misc.