M/S Cometa - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945 (original) (raw)

M/S Cometa Updated June 10-2011

To Cometa on the "Ships starting with C" page.

Buenos Aires 1923.

Source for both pictures: Bjørn Milde's postcard collection.

Manager: Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab, Bergen
Tonnage: 3794 gt

Delivered in Sept.-1921 from Burmeister & Wains Maskin- og Skibsbyggeri, Copenhagen (312) - purchased by Bergenske D/S from Rederi-AB Nordstjärnan (Johnson Line), Stockholm while building. 3794 gt, 6585 tdwt, 367.3' x 51.5' x 23.4', 2 x 6 cyl. B & W diesel 2600 bhp, 10 knots. Operated on Den norske Syd-Amerika Linje service, which was owned by Det Bergenske Dampkibsselskab, A/S J. Ludwig Mowinckels Rederi, and Fred. Olsen & Co.
NOTE: Another Cometa was built in 1941, seized by the Germans, listed here in the Homefleet section.

Final Fate - 1940 (Norway still neutral):

Torpedoed by U-38 (Liebe) at 02:20 German time on March 26-1940 and sunk in 60 06N 04 36W (outside Kirkwall) when on a voyage from Oslo to Buenos Aires with 3250 tons of general cargo.

According to a newspaper article dated Apr. 4 (received from Jan-Olof Hendig, Sweden) she had been stopped by a British patrolboat which had placed a prize crew on board in order to take her to a British port, but she was stopped by the U-boat en route to Kirkwall. The 1st mate was sent over to the boat where he was questioned about destination, cargo etc. before she was sunk.

A visitor to my site has told me that according to Admiralty records she was on a voyage from Brevik (this is not far from Fredrikstad, Norway, which in turn is close to Oslo) for Santos and Buenos Aires with paper and general. Torpedoed (amidships) 65 miles northwest of Noup Head at 23:30 (BST) on March 25-1940. However, the torpedo fired that night had missed.

She had a crew of 31 and 6 Swedish passengers. The ship was abandoned in 1 motorboat and 2 lifeboats. No casualties. According to Uboat.net (external page), the British ship that had stopped them earlier was the trawler HMS Kingston Peridot, and the survivors (including 5 British "prize crew") were picked up by HMS Northern Sky. The site adds that she had broken in two when hit amidships at 02:20 on the 26th, and that the forepart required a coup de grâce before it sank at 02:57.

For info, U-38 was also responsible for the later attacks on Italia and Rinda - follow the links for details.

Related external links:
U-38 | Heinrich Liebe

Back to Cometa on the "Ships starting with C" page.

Other ships by this name: This company had previously lost another Cometa, originally delivered in 1913 as Florentine for owners in Manchester, 1762 gt, renamed Cometa for Bergenske D/S in 1914. Ran aground on Oct. 2-1920. Also, Bergenske D/S had a Cometa in the 1970's, originally delivered in 1952 as Swedish Arawak, 4430 gt. Renamed Carib in 1964 (still Swedish), then sailed as Belgrano for Fred. Olsen & Co. from 1969. Purchased by Sameiet Cometa (Bergenske D/S) in 1976 and renamed Cometa. Sold to Greece in 1977, renamed Demetrios C. Broken up in 1980. The company also had another Cometa later on (Ro-Ro/Container) built 1981, 1996 gt, sold to Haugesund in 1991, later back to previous owners 1996 and reg. in Trondheim.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "The World's Merchant Fleets", R. W. Jordan, "Bergenske, byen og selskapet", Dag Bakka Jr., Lloyd's War Losses, Vol. 1 - and misc. other as named within the above text.