D/S Varegg

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Misc. War Details:

(More will be added).

Varegg is listed in the U.K.-Norway Convoy ON 14 in Febr.-1940. Early in March we find her in Convoy HN 17 from Norway to the U.K., bound for Middlesbrough in ballast, returning to the U.K. later that month with Convoy ON 21. At the beginning of the following month she joined Convoy HN 24, which arrived Methil from Norway on Apr. 7-1940; in other words, she got out of Norway just before the German invasion (Apr. 9). Several Norwegian ships took part in these convoys.

In June-1940 she shows up in Convoy OA 169, which left Southend on June 17 and was dispersed 2 days later. Her destination is given as La Pallice. The convoy was composed of 2 parts, OA 169(1) and OA 169(2), Varegg being in station 25 of Part 2, which had several Norwegian ships (see the external links at the end of this text).

She was in the coal trade England - France until the summer of 1940. In the book "Sjøfolk i krig" by Leif M. Bjørkelund, which is largely based on interviews with seamen 50 years after the war, Captain Iversen's personal account can be found. He says they endured several U-boat and aircraft attacks during this period. They also made a trip to Dublin (another Haugesund ship, D/S Bokn was there at the same time). In Clyde she was in for some sort of repairs before joining a large convoy for Lisbon in order to take in a cargo of props for Liverpool. She wasn't able to keep up with the convoy speed and lost the convoy after 14 hours. On the second day she was about 400 n. miles west of Ireland when the crew noticed something floating in the sea. It turned out to be a lifeboat with 25 men, the crews of 2 different vessels that had been sunk 5 days earlier, according to Captain Iversen. The names of these ships are not mentioned in the captain's story, but Jan-Olof, Sweden has sent me a snippet from the book "Merchant Ship Losses to Axis Submarines 1939-1945" (Tennent) which fits in with this, saying the following with regard to the British Clan Macphee (date, Aug. 16-1940): "Torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-30 (Lemp), in the Atlantic 350 miles W of North Uist, Outer Hebrides, in position 57 30N 17 14W while on a voyage from Glasgow and Liverpool to Bombay and the coast of Malabar, with 6700 tons of general cargo, part of Convoy OB 197 comprising 54 ships. The Master, Capt. Thomas Philip B. Cranwell, and 66 crew were lost. 41 survivors were rescued by Hungarian Kelet." However, Kelet was also sunk (Aug. 19-1940, by the German UA [Cohausz]) and this book says that 35 of the survivors from Clan Macaphee were rescued by Varegg and landed in Galway on Aug. 26.

Varegg was subsequently ordered back to Clyde to join another convoy 3 weeks later. While waiting for the convoy a German U-boat managed to enter, but English destroyers dropped depth charges and they saw no more of the boat. This time she reached Lisbon without mishaps, then continued to Gibraltar. While there an Italian submarine entered the harbour and fired a torpedo but no ships were hit, though the sub was hit by fire from the canons at Gibraltar. Only 3 of her crew were rescued. The voyage back to Liverpool in a convoy consisting of 40 ships, many of which were Norwegian, took 19 days as opposed to the usual 6. They were forced to sail in various directions, and at one point they were as far as the Azores. Perhaps this was Convoy HG 46 from Gibraltar to the U.K. in which she's listed? This convoy left Gibraltar on Oct. 31-1940 and arrived Liverpool on Nov. 19. Varegg's destination is given as Manchester, cargo of pit props. Follow the link for names of other ships taking part, some of which were Norwegian.

While in Liverpool in Nov.-1940 they were under heavy air attacks, and while in London during Christmas that year the city endured one of the worst attacks of the war, with enormous destructions in the city and harbour.

At the beginning of 1941 Varegg entered the coal trade between Blyth and London, again under threat of aircraft and also E-boats. Towards the end of that year Varegg was at Reykjavik with various war materials when a hurricane which lasted for 12 hours caused 5 large steamers to drift ashore with bad damages resulting. 7 ships drifted into Varegg and caused some damages, which were repaired in Liverpool for 2 months.

After having been repaired she was put into service on the coast of England* and was attacked several times by aircraft and E-boats. The captain says on one occasion an aircraft dropped a bomb which landed so close it resulted in more damages to Varegg, but he says the aircraft was on fire and crashed in the sea after Varegg's gunners had fired back. Varegg continued in this coastal service until the Normandie invasion, arriving there on June 17-1944. She unloaded her cargo at the mouth of a river at low tide, but when it came time to tow her out again, she struck the wreck of a ship and was damaged yet again. After temporary repairs she was able to sail for a few weeks until she could get space at a yard for proper repairs.

* It looks like she made some voyages to Iceland in between, because in Aug.-1942 she was scheduled for Convoy RU 34 from Reykjavik to the U.K., but cancelled and joined the next convoy, RU 35 instead. She had a cargo of fish meal for London.

POST WAR:

Sold in Febr.-1960 for breaking up in Tønsberg, having been laid up in Haugesund since 1958.

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The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Våre gamle skip", Leif M. Bjørkelund & E. H. Kongshavn and misc. as named within above text - (ref. My sources).