M/T Barbro - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945 (original) (raw)

M/T Barbro Updated Dec. 29-2012

(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database).

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Errors may exist, and the record is incomplete.

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 convoy links provided for further details; the Commodore's notes are also available and several Norwegian ships took part.

According to the archive document, Barbro was on her way from Port Arthur to Lisbon when war broke out in Norway on Apr. 9-1940. It'll also be noticed that she appears to have spent a long time at Corpus Christi that summer and again later that year, with another long stay in Lisbon. While there, she lost a crew member. Engineer Karl Eyolf Andersen is commemorated at the Memorial for Seamen in Stavern, Norway - ref. link at the end of this page. According to "Våre falne", a series of 4 books naming Norwegians who died during the war, he had served as 2nd engineer on Barbro from 1938 until he died in an accident in Lisbon on Dec. 20-1940 and is buried there. Barbro had arrived Lisbon from Corpus Christi on Dec. 8.

She did not leave Lisbon again until Jan. 7-1941, heading for Trinidad, where she had another long stay (again, see the archive document), before proceeding to Aruba and Bermuda, then on to Halifax. In Apr.-1941, she's listed among the ships in the Halifax-U.K. Convoy HX 123. She had a cargo of diesel oil and had station 74 of the convoy, which left Halifax on Apr. 25 and arrived Liverpool on May 13; Barbro's destination is given as Manchester, where she arrived May 17. According to the Commodore's notes this was her first time sailing in convoy, and he says she was slow at signalling and was inclined to drop back at night. In June we find her, together with the Norwegian Elg, Hardanger, Havsten, Hellen, Ida Knudsen, Solfonn, Torfinn Jarl, Troubadour and Vivi, in Convoy OB 331, which departed Liverpool on June 8 and dispersed on the 19th, Barbro arriving Aruba on June 29 (ref. external link provided in the table above).

She returned to the U.K. the following month with Convoy HX 139, bound for Swansea with gas oil, station 103. The Commodore's Voyage Report is also available for this convoy, which left Halifax on July 16 and arrived Liverpool on the 31st. Barbro arrived her destination, via Belfast Lough, on Aug. 2. She subsequently joined the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 6, which originated in Liverpool on Aug. 11 and dispersed on the 24th, Barbro arriving New York on Aug. 28.

Her voyage back to the U.K. proved to be her last, as will be seen in the next paragraph.

According to Norwegian sources she was on a voyage from Halifax to Liverpool (compare w/archive document) when she was sunk with 2 torpedoes from U-552 (Topp) just before midnight on September 19-1941 while in Convoy SC 44, escorted by 1 destroyer and 4 corvettes, Honeysuckle and Mayflower being 2 of them. Barbro had a cargo of 9000 tons petrol and all on board her, 21 Norwegians, 3 Swedes, 1 Dane, 5 British and 4 Canadians died in the flames, helplessly watched by other ships around her. "Nortraships flåte" says she sank in position 61 30N 35 07W (35 11?). Another Norwegian ship in this convoy was D/S Carrier, but she was not hit.

J. Rohwer states that Barbro was torpedoed early in the morning of Sept. 20 by U-552. In a footnote he says this U-boat hit her with 2 torpedoes, and U-69 (Zahn) tried to administer a coup de grâce but the torpedo did not detonate. Position is given as 61 30N 35 00W. The difference in dates here might simply be due to the Norwegian records using a different time zone. Charles Hocking says Barbro was on a voyage from New York to Stanlow. A visitor to my website says Barbro left New York on Sept. 6, arrived Sydney N. S. on the 10th, then departed the next day for Manchester (which agrees with the archive document). He adds that MOD records state she was torpedoed at 01:30 hours on the 20th and sank 370miles west/southwest of Reykjavik.

Convoy SC 44 is not yet available among the SC convoys included on my website, but will be added - see ships in all SC convoys. It had several Norwegian ships in addition to the 2 already mentioned, namely Ada, Bollsta, Borgfred, Cetus, Gudvin, Hjalmar Wessel, Iron Baron, Lago, Marita, Rolf Jarl, Sirehei, Sneland I, South Africa and Spero. Escorts are named at SC convoy escorts. SC 44 had departed Sydney C. B. on Sept. 11 and arrived Liverpool on the 30th, having lost 4 merchant ships (Empire Burton, Pink Star and T. J. Williams in addition to Barbro. The Canadian corvette Levis was also sunk - the external website that I've linked to at the end of this page has more info on these attacks).

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

For info, U-552 was also responsible for the attakcs on Spind, Lancing and Slemdal - follow the links for details.