M/T Vera
Updated Jan. 6-2012

To M/T Vera on the "Ships starting with V" page.


Picture received from Clive A. Fisher, Australia (see his Guestbook message).

Manager: Halfdan Ditlev-Simonsen & Co.,Oslo
Tonnage: 6485 gt, 9800 tdwt., 11 knots.

Misc. War Voyages:

As will be seen, some of the dates and other details in this narrative, which is based on the captain's report (from "19 Oslo-skips historie under verdenskrigen, fra April 1940 til krigens slutt i 1945" - The story of 19 Oslo ships during WW II, Harald Nicolaisen - 1945) are slightly different from those found on the archive documents - I've left the captain's dates as they appear in his report (the discrepancy might simply be a matter of different time zones used). The captain's information has been supplemented with my own convoy information. Please follow the links provided for more info on them, several Norwegian ships took part. More convoy information is shown in A. Hague's Voyage Record.

Vera departed Long Beach on Apr. 6-1940 with a cargo for Sydney, Australia, arriving May 4. In the meantime, on Apr. 9, Norway had been invaded by the Germans, but nothing is mentioned about this in the captain's report. I would imagine they all received the news in stunned disbelief and intense concern for their families. Vera continued to Newcastle (N.S.W.) where the rest of her cargo was unloaded, whereupon she left for California again, but en route she was ordered to Cape Moreton, where new orders for Bahrein were received. She arrived the latter on June 10, picked up a cargo, then returned to Australia, via Colombo for supplies and Fremantle for routing instructions. Some of the cargo was unloaded in Sydney, the rest in Newcastle and Brisbane, before continuing to San Pedro, then back to Sydney. Another voyage San Pedro-Australia was made after having been a few days in dry dock in San Pedro. She arrived Sydney on Dec. 2-1940, then on to Newcastle to unload the rest of her cargo, before leaving for San Pedro on Dec. 9, with arrival Jan. 5-1941. See also Page 1.

A new cargo was loaded in San Pedro as well as in San Francisco for Singapore (aviation fuel), arriving the latter port on Febr. 21-1941 after a very stormy voyage. Having unloaded in Singapore, she picked up a new cargo at various places off Singapore then departed for Sydney on March 2. Two more voyages were subsequently made between Singapore and ports on Australia's west coast, before she headed to Sourabaya for various repairs (from July 7 till Aug. 18), then on to Palembang, Pladjoe etc. for cargo, leaving for Brisbane on Aug. 28, then back to Palembang (again, compare w/Page 1). This time, some of the cargo was discharged at Pladjoe, more was picked up at Pulo Samboe for Brisbane, arriving there on Oct. 28. A cargo was loaded in Balik Papan and unloaded in Sydney from Nov. 30 and onwards. On Dec. 6 she was sent to a yard for the installation of armament, and crew was sent ashore for training in the use of guns (an able seamen attempted suicide, date is given as Febr. 19, but I wonder if it should be Dec. 19? He was immediately taken to a hospital, but I'm not sure if he survived). Vera departed Sydney on Dec. 18 (19?) for Fremantle, but having collided with a tug there she had to go in for a few days of repairs. While in Fremantle, she was ordered to the Sunda Straits and from there she was sent to Osthaven, with arrival Jan. 15-1942. Her voyages in this period are shown on Page 2 of the archive documents.

She later picked up a cargo of aviation fuel in Singapore, before departing for Brisbane on Jan. 26-1942 (shortly before that city was taken by the Japanese), via Port Darwin for convoy for the first time (as can be seen in the above Voyage Record, A. Hague lists no convoy for this period). After having finished discharging in Sydney she was docked there, then went to Newcastle to pick up a partial cargo for Melbourne, and from there she continued to Bahrein, via Fremantle. Again, cargo was discharged in Sydney and Melbourne, where she also had minor engine repairs, before heading back to Bahrein and Fremantle on June 26. She later returned to Bahrein again, departing on Oct 11, in convoy from Oct. 13, with arrival Melbourne on Nov. 15 (A. Hague has included her, together with Britannia, Ima, Norfold, Peik and William Strachan, in Convoy PB 6 - ref. link in the table above). She then made a voyage to San Pedro and was at a yard there from Dec. 25-1942 until May 29-1943. (It'll be noticed, in A. Hague's Voyage Record above, that he also mentions a collision on Febr. 3 - I have no further details on this).

Vera departed San Pedro on June 5-1943 with a cargo for Brisbane, where part of the cargo was unloaded, while the remainder (aviation fuel) was discharged in Port Moresby, having arrived there in convoy from Townsville (see A. Hague's Voyage Record and Page 2). She carried two more cargoes of aviation fuel from Brisbane to Port Moresby, and a 3rd cargo had been taken on board in Brisbane when she had a problem with one of her engines, so the cargo had to be unloaded on Sept. 29, before she went in for repairs (according to Page 3, she had arrived Brisbane on Sept. 21). A. Hague mentions that she also needed repairs from another collision, which he says had taken place on July 31 that year - again, I have no further info; going back to Page 2 of the archive documents, we see that she had arrived Brisbane from Townsville the day before.

She remained at the yard until Febr. 7-1944. The after gun platform and the ammunition hold had also been enlarged, and a forward gun platform had been added, as well as new cabins for the gun crew. At the same time, a phone connection between the bridge and the various gun positions had been installed. Having taken on board bunkers, she departed for Newcastle in convoy on Febr. 9, and spent some time in dry dock there before leaving alone on Febr. 13 for Panama for further orders. Once through the Panama Canal she proceeded in convoy to Curacao, where a Finnish crew member was denied permission to go ashore. He jumped overboard to swim ashore, with the result that he had to be put in irons, but not without a fight - he had kicked the carpenter in the groin so that he needed medical treatment. (Her 1944 voyages start on Page 3 - convoy information for some of these can be found in A. Hague's Voyage Record, but it'll be noticed that there's no convoy details for her voyage to Curacao).

From Curacao Vera sailed in convoy to New York, then on to Halifax and the U.K., arriving Glasgow, Scotland on May 1-1944 with Convoy SC 157. After a brief stay at a yard for various improvements (convoy lights, blackout curtains etc.), she departed Glasgow in convoy on May 11 for New York. For this voyage, she's listed in the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 236*, which originated in Liverpool on May 11 and arrived New York May 27; Vera arrived Philadelphia that day, proceeding to New York on June 1. She now took a cargo to Manchester, England, having joined Convoy HX 294 from New York on June 2, for which Abraham Lincoln served as Commodore Vessel, while Geisha had the Vice Commodore on board. According to Page 3, Vera arrived Manchester, via Liverpool, Eastham and Stanlow, on June 20, continuing to Barton that same day, then back to Manchester, Eastham and Liverpool, leaving Liverpool again on June 25 in Convoy ON 242* - this time, the Vice Commodore was in Samuel Bakke. Having been run into by another ship in heavy fog on the Newfoundland banks, Vera had to go in for repairs again on arrival New York on July 12. The captain says she left New York for the U.K. with another cargo on July 24; she's listed as bound for Coryton in Convoy HX 301, for which Reinholt served as Commodore Vessel, while Samuel Bakke acted as Vice Commodore Ship again. Apart from some voyages around the U.K., she now continued in North Atlantic service for the rest of the war.

In Sept.-1944 she can be found in the westbound Convoy ON 251* to New York, in which Fjordheim was sunk (follow the link for more info - Commodore was in Tungsha. Convoy originated in Liverpool on Sept. 1 and arrived New York on the 19th; Vera joined from Loch Ewe). She headed back to the U.K. on Oct. 4 with the slow Convoy SC 158 from Halifax, and arrived Portsmouth, via Milford Haven, on Oct. 23 - her voyages in this period are shown on Page 4. At the end of that month, we find her in the westbound Convoy ONS 35*, which started out in Liverpool on Oct. 29 and arrived Halifax Nov. 15. Vera, however, arrived Baltimore on Nov. 21 (she had sailed from Belfast Lough on Oct. 29). She did not leave Baltimore until Dec. 8, when she proceeded to New York and Boston, then on to Halifax and her last Trans-Atlantic voyage that year was made in Convoy SC 163 from there on Dec. 17. Her destination is given as Avonmouth, where she arrived on Jan. 1-1945.

Later that month, A. Hague has included her in the westbound Convoy ONS 40*, which sailed from Liverpool on Jan. 12-1945 and arrived Halifax on the 30th, but Vera started out from Belfast Lough Jan. 12 and arrived Philadelphia Febr. 3, proceeding to Boston a few days later, then on to Halifax. She was scheduled for the slow Convoy SC 167 from there, but did not sail; in fact, she was still in Boston when this convoy left Halifax (Novasli was sunk - follow the link for details). A. Hague instead has her, with a cargo of crude oil and dieso, in the next convoy, SC 168*, departing Halifax on Febr. 25, arriving Liverpool March 13. Going back to Page 4, we learn that she continued to Eastham, Ellesmere Port, Manchester and Runcorn (the captain says Vera departed Manchester for New York on March 15-1945, but according to the archive document she had arrived Manchester on that date, leaving for Runcorn on March 20). She subsequently went back to Liverpool, joining the westbound Convoy ONS 45* on March 22. This convoy arrived Halifax on Apr. 11, but Vera arrived Philadelphia on the 14th.

Shortly thereafter, she proceeded to Halifax in order to join Convoy SC 174* on Apr. 28, with arrival Liverpool May 15; in other words, VE Day was celebrated at sea. She again continued to Eastham and Manchester (Page 4), before returning to Liverpool, then joined the westbound Convoy ONS 51* on May 21 (the captain of Minerva served as Vice Commodore). This convoy also had Halifax as its final destination (June 4), but Vera arrived New York on June 6. From Page 5 we learn that she continued to Philadelphia that same day, with arrival June 7. When she returned to the U.K. a few days later she sailed alone with all lights lit. Page 5 shows her voyages up to and including most of Apr.-1946. The document indicates she headed home to Norway in March-1946, but arrival date is not given.

* The ON and ONS convoys will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course, with more information on each. In the meantime, the ships sailing in them (and escorts) are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys and on the page for ships in all ONS convoys. The entire SC series will also be updated and completed (including the already existing convoys), but for now, please go to ships in all SC convoys. As will be seen, they all had several Norwegian ships.

More information on the other Norwegian ships named on this page can be found via the alphabet index below, or go to the Master Ship Index.

POST WAR:

According to this external page, she was owned by Billners Rederi A/B (A. Billner) Gothenburg, Sweden from May-1947, renamed Kjell. Renamed Kjell Billner in 1950. From Jan.-1956, owned by Sveriges Oljekonsumenters Riksförbund, Stockholm, Sweden, renamed Oktania. Converted to barge in Sept.-1962 and renamed Ok-Heistad. Sold in Nov.-1964 to Eckhardt & Co. GmbH, Hamburg for breaking up.

Back to M/T Vera on the "Ships starting with V" page.

Norway had previously had another ship by this name (steamship), built in Denmark 1903, 1222 gt, A. F. Klaveness. Broken up in 1933.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "19 Oslo-skips historie under verdenskrigen, fra April 1940 til krigens slutt i 1945" (The story of 19 Oslo ships during WW II), Harald Nicolaisen - 1945, "The Allied Convoy System", Arnold Hague, and misc. - (ref. My sources).

Aa–Al	An–Ar	As–Av	Ba	Be	Bi–Bl	Bo	Br–Bu	C	D
E	F	G	Ha	He	Hi–Hy	Hø	I	J	K
L	M	N	O	PQ	R	Sa–Sc	Se–Sj	Sk–Sn	So
Sp–St	Su–Sø	Ta–Te	Th–Ti	To	Tr–Tø	U	V	W	Ø