Eglantine - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945 (original) (raw)

Eglantine Corvette

Updated Aug. 25-2010

To Eglantine on the "Ships starting with E" page.

Tonnage: 925 displ t.

Built by Harland & Wolff Ltd., Belfast in 1941.

5 British built, Flower class corvettes were taken over by the Norwegian Navy in the U.K. They were Montbretia, Eglantine, Acanthus and Rose in 1941, and Potentilla in Jan.-1942. The Norwegian navy was to be responsible for supplying the crews, their salary, food and uniforms, while other expenses were to be paid by Royal Navy. They were used as escorts in the North Atlantic and carried out over 80 attacks against U-boats. When Potentilla was returned to Royal Navy in March of 1944, she was replaced by a Castle class corvette, which was named Tunsberg Castle under the Norwegian flag. Buttercup, also Flower class, was transferred after the loss of Tunsberg Castle in 1944. See individual links for details on each corvette.

According to a posting to my Ship Forum Eglantine was handed over to the Norwegian Navy in Aug.-1941 (on a lease basis). Atle Wilmar, Norway has given me the following dates: Came under Norwegian command in Belfast on Aug. 14-1941, "ready for war" Oct. 1-1941.

Transcribed from a document received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database.

Only a few of her voyages are mentioned here. For information on voyages made prior to and in between those noted below, please see Hague's Voyage Record. Follow the convoy links provided for further details; the Commodore's notes are also available for most of them and several Norwegian ships took part.

Eglantine and Montbretia were part of the escort for Convoy HX 156 in Nov.-1941. They are also mentioned in the original documents for the westbound North Atlantic Convoy ON 36 later that month (see also the Commodore's narrative), subsequently joining Convoy SC 54 back to the U.K.

Skipping now to Aug.-1942, when Eglantine and Montbretia escorted the westbound Convoy ON 122, along with PotentillaandAcanthus, as well as the British destroyer Viscount and others (see ON convoy escorts). Trolla was sunk, follow the link for more details; again, see also the Commodore's report. Eglantine, Potentilla, Montbretia and Acanthus are also listed as escorts for Convoy HX 205, which left Halifax at the end of August and arrived Liverpool on Sept. 11. According to A. Hague, they all joined on Sept. 2; Potentilla parting company on Sept. 10, while the others remained until the 11th - see HX convoy escorts. The Commodore for HX 205 says "Escort was met at 09:00 on Sept 2 in 46 46N 51 10W".

Eglantine also escorted Convoy SC 104 (Oct.-1942 - with Acanthus, Montbretia and Potentilla), as well as the westbound Convoy ONS 144 (Nov.-1942 - with Rose, Potentilla and Montbretia, the latter was sunk). My pages about Potentilla and Montbretia have more details on the passage of these convoys, as do the external websites that I've linked to at the end of this page. (Note that the correct term for the westbound convoy should be ON 144, as the true ONS series was not established until 1943, starting with ONS 1, but the slower ON convoys were often referred to as ONS in signals and contemporary documents even before that year). The ships taking part in SC 104 can be found at ships in all SC convoys, while the ships sailing in ON 144 are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys (both will be added to individual pages in my Convoys section in due course, with more details on each).

Eglantine, Potentilla and Rose can also be found among the escorts for the New York-U.K. Convoy HX 217, joining the convoy at daylight on Dec. 5-1942, according to the Commodore's notes. The Commodore's narrative is also available. Later that month we find Acanthus and Eglantine mentioned in the westbound Convoy ON 155 (again, see also the Commodore's narrative), and the 2 of them also escorted Convoy ON 165 in Febr.-1943 - see also this narrative.

In Nov.-1943 Eglantine was among the escorts for Convoy RA 54A, which left the Kola Inlet on Nov. 1 and arrived Loch Ewe on the 14th. She had previously arrived in North Russia at the end of the previous month when "Operation FR" took place (this was a passage of escorts to Russia in order to bring back merchant ships that had remained there following the suspension of the Arctic convoys that spring). She subsequently went on to escort Convoy ON 212 later that month, as did Rose and Potentilla. The only Norwegian ships in ON 212 were Villanger, Vav, Spinanger and Fjordaas.

A year later, she escorted Convoy JW 62, departing Loch Ewe on Nov. 29-1944, arriving the Kola Inlet on Dec. 7 (available via the first external link at the end of this page, and in the table above). A few days later, she took her place as escort for the returning Convoy RA 62 (see also Tunsberg Castle).

Again, see the table above for information on her other escort duties.

Jan-Olof, Sweden has told me that according to Lenton & Colledge Eglantine became mercantile Sørøy in 1947. I've also seen statements on several websites that she was renamed Sørøy as early as 1941, but this is incorrect, she did not get that name until Aug.-1946. According to a posting to my Ship Forum she had been handed over to the Norwegian Navy in Aug.-1941 (on a lease basis) and was purchased by same in 1946, pennant F 308. Became Thor Dahl's whale catcher Thorglimt in 1957 (broken up in Grimstad in 1969). Axel Kuehn, the poster of this message adds that the 1946 sale might have been reported erroneously as a civilian sale (which might explain Lenton & Colledge's entries). See my query which has several responses. There's also this reply to my separate query on Eglantine. This one might also be of interest. Atle Wilmar, Norway has given me the following dates:
Came under Norwegian command in Belfast on Aug. 14-1941, "ready for war" Oct. 1-1941. After the war was over in Norway she sailed to Norway in May-1945, purchased in 1946, and renamed Sørøy on Aug. 10-1946.

Related external links:
Convoy escort movements - Lists the escort movements of all escorts during the war (including Eglantine).

Russian Convoys

HNoMS EglantineSC-104, 12 - 16 Oct 1942ONS-144, 15 - 21 Nov 1942

Group Wotan and the Battle for Convoy SC 104 - Article with a very detailed description of the convoy battle (a section of Rob Fisher's Home Page).

Convoy ONS 144 - Names the ships involved on all sides (from the website "Encyclopedia of WW II Naval Battles"). This website lists Eglantine as Soroy.

Back to Eglantine on the "Ships starting with E" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Convoys to Russia", Bob Ruegg and Arnold Hague, and misc. (ref. My sources).