T/T Kaptein Worsøe- Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945 (original) (raw)
T/T Kaptein Worsøe Updated Nov. 23-2011
Manager: Nortraship
Tonnage: 10 448 gt
Delivered from The Kaiser Co., Swan Island, Portland (73) in July-1944. Launched as Trailblazer. 1 of 10 ships transferred to the Norwegian flag in 1944, renamed Kaptein Worsøe. See my page "Ship Statistics & Misc." under "gains" 1944 for a list of all 10. Kaptein Worsøe was taken over at Portland on July 8.
The Canadian Alice House and Ola McLean were radio operators on this ship. See also this Guestbook message. A list of names of other female, Canadian radio operators can be found on my page about M/S Mosdale.
1st mate was Rasmus Astrup, who had previously taken part i Operation Performance with B. P. Newton; follow the links for details. He had also served on Solør. See also this external page.
Captain: From June-1944 until June-1945, Knut O. Bringedal - see also O. A. Knudsen.
Her voyages are listed on these original images from the Norwegian National Archives:
Page 1 | Page 2
Please compare the above voyages with Arnold Hague's Voyage Record below.
� Voyage Record
From July-1944 to Dec.-1945:
(Received from Don Kindell - His source: The late Arnold Hague's database).
Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.
| Departure | From | To | Arrival | Convoy | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | July 12 | Portland, Oreg | Los Angeles | July 14 | Independent | See also Page 1 |
| July 18 | Los Angeles | Sydney, N.S.W. | Aug. 7 | Independent | – | |
| Aug. 13 | Sydney, N.S.W. | Langemak Bay | Aug. 18 | Independent | – | |
| Aug. 23 | Langemak Bay | Los Angeles | Sept. 10 | Independent | – | |
| Sept. 13 | Los Angeles | Langemak Bay | Oct. 2 | Independent | – | |
| Oct. 5 | Langemak Bay | Hollandia | Oct. 7 | Independent | – | |
| Oct. 12 | Hollandia | Manus | Oct. 14 | Independent | – | |
| Oct. 16 | Manus | Los Angeles | Nov. 1 | Independent | – | |
| Nov. 9 | Los Angeles | Langemak Bay | Nov. 27 | Independent | – | |
| Nov. 28 | Langemak Bay | Milne Bay | Dec. 1 | Independent | Notional sailing date | |
| Dec. 6 | Milne Bay | Los Angeles | Dec. 24 | Independent | – | |
| Dec. 28 | Los Angeles | Pearl Harbor | Jan. 4-1945 | Independent | – | |
| 1945 | Jan. 5 | Pearl Harbor | Eniwetok | Jan. 13 | Independent | – |
| Jan. 17 | Eniwetok | Kwajalein | Jan. 19 | Independent | – | |
| Jan. 20 | Kwajalein | Eniwetok | Jan. 21 | Independent | – | |
| Jan. 21 | Eniwetok | Majuro | Jan. 22 | Independent | – | |
| Jan. 22 | Majuro | Los Angeles | Febr. 4 | Independent | – | |
| Febr. 7 | Los Angeles | Sydney, N.S.W. | Febr. 26 | Independent | – | |
| March 1 | Sydney, N.S.W. | Melbourne | March 2 | Independent | – | |
| March 4 | Melbourne | Adelaide | March 5 | Independent | – | |
| March 6 | Adelaide | Fremantle | March 11 | Independent | – | |
| March 15 | Fremantle | Onslow | March 17 | Independent | – | |
| March 18 | Onslow | Bahrein | Apr. 1 | Independent | – | |
| Apr. 2 | Bahrein | Aden | Apr. 7 | Independent | ||
| Apr. 8 | Aden | Suez | Apr. 12 | Independent | On to Port Said, same day (Page 1). | |
| Apr. 13 | Port Said | Augusta | Apr. 16 | Independent | – | |
| Apr. 16 | Augusta | Toulon | Apr. 18 | Independent | – | |
| Apr. 23 | Marseilles | Aruba | May 6 | Independent | Via Gibraltar (Page 1) | |
| May 8 | Aruba | Gitmo | May 9 | Independent | – | |
| May 13 | Gitmo | New York City | May 19 | GN 205 | Convoy available at GN 205 (external link) | |
| May 20 | New York City | Cherbourg | May 30 | CU 71 | For Le Havre | |
| May 31 | Cherbourg | New York City | – | Independent | – | |
| June 22 | New York City | Houston | – | Independent | – | |
| July 3 | Houston | Cristobal | July 7 | Independent | – | |
| July 8 | Balboa | Manus | Aug. 1 | Independent | – | |
| Aug. 4 | Manus | Manus* | Aug. 10 | Independent | – | |
| Aug. 16 | Manus* | Ulithi | Aug. 21 | Independent | *Manila (Page 2). | |
| Aug. 22 | Ulithi | Balboa | Sept. 14 | Independent | – | |
| Sept. 16 | Cristobal | Aruba | Sept. 18 | Independent | – | |
| Sept. 19 | Aruba | Cristobal | Sept. 22 | Independent | – | |
| Sept. 23 | Balboa | Pearl Harbor | Oct. 6 | Independent | – | |
| Nov. 26 | Pearl Harbor | Guam | – | Independent | – | |
| Dec. 12 | Guam | Pearl Harbor | Dec. 22 | Independent | Subsequent voyages, Page 2 |
As mentioned, Kaptein Worsøe was taken over at Portland on July 8-1944. Already on the 12th she left Portland for Los Angeles, where she arrived July 14, continuing to Sydney on the 18th - see Page 1, which also shows some of her 1945 voyages.
She had been to Aruba in May-1945, travelling from there to Guantanamo Bay, and is subsequently listed, together with Slemmestad and Suderøy, in Convoy GN 205, which left Guantanamo on May 13 and arrived New York on the 19th - ref. external link provided in the Voyage Record above. The next day, she joined the fast New York-U.K. Convoy CU 71; her destination is given as Havre (Elisabeth Bakke, Mosdale and Trondanger are also listed, follow the link for more info). Kaptein Worsøe was back in the U.S. in June.
Page 2 of the archive documents shows her voyages up to and including June-1946 (as can be seen, she spent a long time at Pearl Harbor at the end of 1945).
For more information on the other Norwegian ships mentioned here, please see the alphabet index at the bottom of this page, or go to the Master Ship Index.
Returned to US in 1946 and renamed Trailblazer. Sold to France in 1948 and renamed Berry. Transferred to French Navy in 1961 on a long-term bareboat charter, refitted as a fleet replenishment ship. Returned to previous owners in March 1963. Sold that same year and renamed Hepta for voyage to shipbreakers, and arrived Hong Kong in June 1963 to be broken up. (This info received from R. W. Jordan - see also this external page).