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

M/T Sveve Updated Aug. 4-2012

Owner: A/R Atlantic
Manager: Wilh. Jebsen, Bergen
Tonnage: 6313 gt, 10 350 tdwt
Signal Letters: LDRW

Built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Wallsend, Sunderland in 1930.

In Admiralty service from 1940 (Royal Fleet Auxiliary).

Related items on this website:
Guestbook message - From a relative of Johan Molvik, who was on board when Sveve was sunk.
Another message - From the grandson of Gunner William Preece (see crew list below).
Guestbook message from the son of Emil Kjærstad (crew list)

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 Oct.-1939 to Sept.-1942:

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

Follow the convoy links provided for more information on each.

Some Convoy Voyages – 1940-1942:

Please follow the convoy links provided for more info; the Commodore's notes and/or escort's reports are also available for most of them and several Norwegian ships took part. See also the documents received from the National Archives of Norway and A. Hague's Voyage Record above.

As will be seen when going to Page 1 of the archive documents, Sveve arrived Curacao from Norway on Apr. 9-1940 (on the day Norway was invaded). She left Curacao again on Apr. 21 and arrived Halifax on May 2, joining Convoy HX 41 from there to the U.K. on May 8 (having been cancelled from the earlier convoys, HX 39 and HX 40). She arrived Liverpool on May 23, proceeding to Belfast 2 days later, remaining there for a month. In June she's listed, with Belita, Bra-Kar, Egda, Norma, Solstad and Vestland, in Convoy OB 175, which originated in Liverpool on June 27 and dispersed on the 30th. Her destination is given as Carapito (should be Caripito; Carapito is in Portugal); according to the archive document, she arrived Trinidad on July 15 (she had joined the convoy from off Belfast). The next day, she proceeded to Bermuda, and was scheduled for the Bermuda portion of Convoy HX 60 on July 22, but there's a note in the original convoy document saying "To be sent to Halifax to await orders". She left Bermuda on July 25 and arrived Halifax on the 28th, joining Convoy HX 62 on July 31 (it'll be noticed that this departure Halifax on July 31 is not mentioned on the archive document). However, according to the Commodore's notes, Sveve lost touch with this convoy in dense fog - follow the link for more details; it looks like she returned to Halifax (A. Hague says she had a fire on board on July 31 and was delayed for repairs). She shows up again in the Advance Sailing Telegram for HX 63 on Aug. 4, with a note saying "To be held at Halifax to await orders", then finally got away with Convoy HX 68 on Aug. 24, arriving Liverpool on Sept. 8.

With Belita and Leiesten, she subsequently joined Convoy OB 214, departing Liverpool on Sept. 15-1940, dispersed Sept. 18, Sveve arriving Curacao Oct. 3. From there, she proceeded to Bermuda in order to join the Bermuda portion of Convoy HX 81 on Oct. 14 (note that Sveve is also mentioned in HMS Voltaire's report for HX 81, under Oct. 26 and Oct. 27). The following month, we find her in Convoy OB 241, together with Beduin, Belray, Carmelfjell, Einar Jarl and Maridal; ref. link provided within the table above (Emma Bakke is also listed in one section of the site, but not the other, and the same is the case for Belray and Einar Jarl - A. Hague has included Emma Bakke in OB 243). OB 241 originated in Liverpool on Nov. 9 and dispersed on the 14th. No destination is given for Sveve on that occasion, but from Page 1, we learn that she arrived Trinidad on Nov. 28, having started out from Clyde on the 10th. Her last Trans-Atlantic voyage that year was made with Convoy HX 96, again joining from Bermuda, where she had arrived from Trinidad on Dec. 9. Sveve arrived Liverpool on Dec. 29, remaining there for quite some time.

In Febr.-1941, she joined Convoy OB 289, departing Liverpool on Febr. 20, but is said to have put back with defects (G. C. Bøvig was damaged, follow link for details. Geisha and Idefjord are also listed). She shows up again, along with Emma Bakke, Garonne and Morgenen, in Convoy OB 299, which left Liverpool on March 19 and dispersed on the 25th, Sveve arriving Curacao Apr. 8 - again, see the external links provided in the table above for more details on the OB convoys mentioned here. Sveve continued to Halifax already the next day, and on Apr. 20, she joined Convoy HX 122 from there, bound for Reykjavik with fuel oil, arriving May 4. Cruising order/Commodore's notes are also available for this convoy. From Reykjavik, she made a voyage back to Bermuda and Curacao later that month (Page 1); according to A. Hague, she ran aground on arrival Curacao on May 31 and was repaired there, before heading back to Bermuda on June 10 in order to join the Bermuda portion of Convoy HX 134 on the 18th. See also the Commodore's account on the passage (Sveve is mentioned under July 4 on the 2nd page of the account). She was bound for Reykjavik with Admiralty fuel, arriving her destination on July 5.

She later joined Convoy OB 347, which originated in Liverpool on July 16 and dispersed on the 31st and also included Akabahra, Astra, Balduin, Bjørkhaug, Fido, Gudrun, Hestmanden (to Iceland), Leka, Marga, Maridal, Orania, Siak and Spes - Sveve joined this convoy from Iceland, having sailed from Reykjavik on July 21, and arrived Trinidad on Aug. 10. From there, she now made a voyage to Freetown and back to Trinidad (Page 1), then on to Halifax, and on Oct. 5, we find her in station 55 of Convoy HX 153 to the U.K., along with the Norwegian Katy, Temeraire, Haakon Hauan, Ferncastle, Bonneville (returned), Lista, Santos, Toronto (returned) and Andrea Brøvig.

Judging from the information found on Page 2, it looks like she subsequently spent a long time in Glasgow. At the external website that I've linked to below, she's listed as scheduled for Convoy OS 14 in Dec.-1941, but did not sail - she is, however, included in one of the westbound North Atlantic convoys that month, namely Convoy ON 48. This convoy originated in Liverpool on Dec. 19 and dispersed on the 31st., Sveve arriving Trinidad on Jan. 8-1942. ON 48, which also included Athos, Buenos Aires, Chr. Th. Boe, Grena, Havkong, Havprins, Heranger, Høegh Scout, Kollskegg, Nueva Andalucia, Solfonn and Solstad (returned), will be added to an individual page in my Convoys section, along with further info; in the meantime, the ships sailing in it (and escorts) are named in the section listing ships in all ON convoys - Sveve joined from Clyde.

Her subsequent voyages are shown on Page 2 - convoy information for some of these can be found in the Voyage Record above.

She was scheduled for Convoy SL 114 from Freetown on June 25-1942 (she did not arrive Freetown until July 3), but instead joined the next convoy, SL 115, which left Freetown on July 5 and arrived Liverpool on the 26th; Sveve, cargo of fuel oil, station 42, stopped at Clyde that day and going back to the archive document referred to above, it looks like she again had a long stay in Glasgow.

For more information on the Norwegian ships mentioned here, see the alphabet index at the bottom of this page, or go to the Master Ship Index.

Sveve departed Clyde in ballast on Sept. 4-1942 and was on a voyage from Glasgow to New York and Curacao in station 32 of Convoy ON 127 when she at 14:37 GCT on Sept. 10 wastorpedoed by U-96 (Hellriegel), 51 30N 27 55W*. At the time of attack she was proceeding at a speed of 8 1/2 knots in fine weather with calm sea and very good visibility, wind southwest force 2-3. 5 lookouts were stationed, 2 aft and 3 on the bridge.

* This position is from a report presented at the subsequent inquiry - J. Rohwer gives the attack position as 51 28N 28 30W.

The torpedo was seen approaching and the rudder put hard to port, but it struck 6-8 feet below the surface on the port side near No. 5 main tank (almost empty). Within 4 minutes, this tank as well as the pumproom were full of water, the summer tank beneath the port No. 5 tank was gone, as was the bottom of No. 3 summer tank, and the bulkheads to the starboard tank were blown to pieces. 20 long holes were visible in the ship's starboard side above the water line, the deck above No. 3 summer tank was torn up and cracked, the fore and aft bridge was damaged and the steering gear and cargo line were broken.

All 39 (incl. 2 gunners) survived and after having examined the damages they left the ship in 4 lifeboats 20 minutes after the attack had occurred. Within an hour they were picked up by the escorting Canadian corvette HMCS Sherbrooke (K 152, Flower class, see related link below) which tried to sink her by firing about 15 shells into her. She eventually sank by the stern that evening after the valves had been opened by 4 of the corvette's crew as well as Sveve's 1st and 2nd mates, the 2nd engineer and an able seaman, who had reboarded the ship.

The crew was landed in St. John's on Sept. 16 and an inquiry was held there on Sept. 19-1942 with the captain, the 2nd mate (officer on watch on the bridge), Able Seaman Stang (helmsman) and the 1st engineer attending.

As will be seen when going to my page about Convoy ON 127, this convoy had several Norwegian ships. See also my pages about Hindanger, Daghild, Marit II and Fjordaas, as well as the external link at the end of this page to ON 127 for more info on this convoy battle. A. Hague's listing for Convoy ON 127 is also available.

For info, U-96 (but with a different commander) had also been responsible for the attacks on Caledonia, Torungen and Tyr - follow the links for details.

Crew List - No casualties: Captain Hansen had commanded the ship since June-1936.
The 1st engineer had been on board since Aug.-1932.
The 2nd mate since Sept.-1941
Able Seaman Stang for 4 years, Johan Molvik since 1939.
Edvin (Eivind?) Risdal had previously served on Henrik Ibsen. Following the loss of Sveve, he joined Tamerlane (according to this external page).

Back to Sveve on the "Ships starting with S" page.

The text on this page was compiled with the help of: "Nortraships flåte", J. R. Hegland, "Sjøforklaringer fra 2. verdenskrig", Volume II, Norwegian Maritime Museum, Summary of Statements by Survivors in a memorandum to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, dated Oct. 15-1942 and signed Ensign E. D. Henderson, USNR, received from Tony Cooper, England, and misc. (ref. My sources).