 MS Borgestad | |
| Class overview | |
| Name | MS Borgestad |
|---|---|
| In service | 1925-1941 |
| History | |
| Name | Borgestad |
MS Borgestad was a Norwegian diesel-powered cargo ship,built at Burmeister &Wain,Copenhagen in 1925. [1] The vessel is known for having engaged the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper to protect a convoy,where many of the vessels managed to escape thanks to her actions. Borgestad was sunk in early 1941 and all 31 people on board perished. [2] Captain Lars Grotnæss was awarded the War Cross,post mortem.
Borgestad's encounter in the Atlantic with Admiral Hipper in 30 January 1941 was reported in Norwegian newspapers as early as May 1945,including Agderposten.
The ship was travelling east across the Atlantic towards England and the convoy's destination,Liverpool. The convoy was without a military escort and Borgestad was in the front line of the convoy. Borgestad was armed with a single gun,which was manned. The ship headed straight for the German cruiser and fired relentlessly,even though they knew that the target could not be reached with a small anti-submarine gun.
Captain Lars Grotnes's maneuver gave the other ships in the convoy chance to disperse while the German cruiser turned its attention to the attacker. Agderposten characterizes this as a battle between David and Goliath,and it could not last long. After a broadside from the cruiser,Borgestad was sunk. The German cruiser sank a further five of the convoy's ships.
"... it is certain that if Borgestad's crew had not so bravely sacrificed their lives,the convoy's losses would have been far greater",writes Agderposten. "The feat was also praised as one of the most brilliant examples of Norwegian seamanship and patriotism during the war,and Borgestad's entire crew was decorated after their death" [3]
| Departure | From | To | Arrival | Convoy | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr. 1 1940 | Durban | Cape Town | Apr. 4 | Independent | For earlier trips see this Note |
| Apr. 8 1940 | Cape Town | Takoradi | Apr. 19 | Independent | |
| Apr. 26 1940 | Takoradi | Baie Comeau | ? | Independent | Arrived at Sorel-Tracy in May 20 [4] |
| May 27,1940 | Baie Comeau | Botwood | June 1 | Independent | |
| June 5,1940 | Botwood | Cristóbal | June 23 | Independent | |
| June 24,1940 | Balboa | Los Angeles | July 7 | Independent | |
| July 7,1940 | Los Angeles | Tacoma | July 13 | Independent | |
| July 15,1940 | Tacoma | Vancouver | July 16 | Independent | |
| July 24,1940 | Vancouver | Colombo | Sept. 9 | Independent | |
| Sept. 18 1940 | Colombo | Bombay | Sept. 24 | Independent | |
| Sept. 24 1940 | Bombay | Port Sudan | Oct. 8 | BN 6 | For Port Sudan (left convoy Oct. 7) Convoy available at BN 6 [5] |
| Nov. 7 1940 | Port Sudan | ? | ? | BS 8 | For Port Elizabeth. |
| Nov. 12 1940 | Dispersed from BS 8 | Port Elizabeth | Nov. 30 | Independent | |
| Dec. 30 1940 | Port Elizabeth | Cape Town | Jan. 2 1941 | Independent | |
| Jan. 3 1941 | Cape Town | Freetown | Jan. 19 | Independent | |
| Jan. 30 1941 | Freetown | ? | ? | SLS 64 [7] | Sunk by German cruiser Admiral Hipper |
The Kriegsmarine was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war Reichsmarine (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches,along with the Heer and the Luftwaffe,of the Wehrmacht,the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945.
Admiral Scheer was a Deutschland-class heavy cruiser which served with the Kriegsmarine (Navy) of Nazi Germany during World War II. The vessel was named after Admiral Reinhard Scheer,German commander in the Battle of Jutland. She was laid down at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in June 1931 and completed by November 1934. Originally classified as an armored ship by the Reichsmarine,in February 1940 the Germans reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as heavy cruisers.
Deutschland was the lead ship of her class of heavy cruisers which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. Ordered by the Weimar government for the Reichsmarine,she was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel in February 1929 and completed by April 1933. Originally classified as an armored ship by the Reichsmarine,in February 1940 the Germans reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as heavy cruisers. In 1940,she was renamed Lützow,after the unfinished Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser Lützow was sold to the Soviet Union the previous year.
The Battle of the Barents Sea was a World War II naval engagement on 31 December 1942 between warships of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) and British ships escorting convoy JW 51B to Kola Inlet in the USSR. The action took place in the Barents Sea north of North Cape,Norway. The German raiders' failure to inflict significant losses on the convoy infuriated Hitler,who ordered that German naval strategy would henceforth concentrate on the U-boat fleet rather than surface ships.
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Operation Berlin was a raid conducted by the two German Scharnhorst-class battleships against Allied shipping in the North Atlantic between 22 January and 22 March 1941. It formed part of the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sailed from Germany,operated across the North Atlantic,sank or captured 22 Allied merchant vessels,and finished their mission by docking in occupied France. The British military sought to locate and attack the German battleships,but failed to damage them.
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HMS Onslow was an O-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. The O-class were intermediate destroyers,designed before the outbreak of the Second World War to meet likely demands for large number of destroyers. They had a main gun armament of four 4.7 in guns,and had a design speed of 36 kn. Onslow was ordered on 2 October 1939 and was built by John Brown &Company at their Clydebank,Glasgow shipyard,launching on 31 March 1941 and completing on 8 October 1941.
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Convoy HX 47 was a North Atlantic convoy of the HX series which ran during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II. It was the 47th of the numbered series of merchant convoys run by the Allies from Halifax to Liverpool. The convoy was attacked by German U-boats and lost three of its 58 ships.
Margit Johnsen Godø,,nicknamed Malta-Margit,was a Norwegian sailor in the merchant navy. For her service on a merchant vessel in convoy to Malta in 1942 she was awarded the St. Olav's Medal with Oak Branch and several other gallantry decorations. Johnsen continued her work in the Norwegian merchant fleet until 1960. Her story is told in maritime and wartime history as an example of Norwegian women's effort during World War II.
SS Cathay was a P&O passenger steamship that was built in Scotland in 1925 and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea in 1942. In the Second World War she was first an armed merchant cruiser and then a troop ship. In 1942 she took part in Operation Torch,and was sunk in a German air raid off Bougie,Algeria.
MS Sørland was a Norwegian cutter. She was the first Norwegian civilian ship to be sunk by German forces during the German invasion of Norway on April 9,1940.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in January 1941 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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