SS Snefjeld

Last updated
SS Ottoland.JPG
The Snefjeld in 1912, whilst the Ottoland
History
Flag of Norway.svg Norway
NameSS Snefjeld
Operator
  • NV Stoomvaart Mij Maasstad (Driebeek & Sons), Rotterdam (1901–1909)
  • Stoomvaart Mij Nederlandsche Lloyd, Rotterdam (1909–1915)
  • Harald Grieg Martens, Bergen (1915–1940)
BuilderNV Scheepswerf Voorheen Jan Smit Czn, Alblasserdam
CompletedMay 1901
Renamed
  • Launched as Maasstad
  • renamed Ottoland in 1909
  • renamed Snefjeld in 1915
FateSunk on 19 October 1940
General characteristics
TypeSteam merchant ship
Tonnage1,643 grt
Crew21

The SS Snefjeld was a steam merchant ship that saw service through two world wars, at first under the Dutch flag, followed by the Norwegian.

Contents

Construction and early years

Snefjeld was completed in May 1901 at the yards of NV Scheepswerf Voorheen Jan Smit Czn, Alblasserdam. She initially entered service with NV Stoomvaart Mij Maasstad (Driebeek & Sons), Rotterdam in 1901 as the Maasstad. She served with them for eight years, being transferred to Stoomvaart Mij Nederlandsche Lloyd, Rotterdam in 1909, when she was renamed Ottoland. She was sold in 1915 to the Norwegian firm of Harald Grieg Martens, Bergen and was renamed Snefjeld. [1]

Wartime career

She sailed in a number of allied convoys after the outbreak of the Second World War, her first being as part of the UK to Norway convoy ON 14 in February 1940. She returned in March with a cargo of pulp. She also made several transatlantic crossings, including with the Halifax to UK convoy HX 61, where she transported a cargo of pit props. She appears to have returned to North America in September with convoy OB 207. [2]

Convoy SC 7

Snefjeld joined convoy SC 7 for the return voyage to the UK. She arrived at the convoy assembly point at Sydney, Nova Scotia from Caraquet, New Brunswick carrying a cargo of 719 standards of timber and bound for London. [1] The convoy left Sydney on 5 October but later came under attack from a number of U-boats successfully utilising wolf pack tactics. One of the ships lost was the SS Thalia, a Greek merchant which was torpedoed and sunk on 19 October by Otto Kretschmer's U-99. The Snefjeld stopped at 01:15 and lowered three boats to look for survivors from the Thalia. They located four and two boats returned to the Snefjeld and were prepared to be pulled back aboard. At 02:00 U-99 fired a torpedo at the stationary Snefjeld, hitting her on her starboard side near Hatch No. 2. [2]

In the lifeboats

The second mate, the steward and the mess boy were injured in the explosion, whilst the first mate, who had been in one of the boats was blown into the water. He managed to reboard the Snefjeld but the ship was now ablaze. The Snefjeld listed to starboard sending the deck cargo on the foredeck overboard. The two lifeboats that had been lowered to search for the survivors were destroyed, but the motorboat which had also been launched was able to pick up several of the crew. The rest left the ship in a dinghy. The Snefjeld floated for another hour before breaking in two. She sank at about 08:00. There had been no casualties, and the survivors initially waited in the area in the hope of being spotted. When this did not happen they began to row towards land, but encountered heavy seas. The two boats were separated during the night, but were subsequently able to rejoin the next day. Later that day they came across one of the Thalia's empty lifeboats, and took on its supplies. They then came across another empty life boat from the SS Empire Brigade and transferred some men into it. [2] They then spotted a man on some nearby wreckage. On taking him aboard they found he was a survivor from the SS Fiscus, which had also been lost from the convoy. On 21 October they made contact with a lifeboat containing 29 survivors from the SS Port Gisborne, which had been torpedoed over a week previously. The boats eventually became separated however. [2]

By now the motorboat had been leaking considerably and the men transferred into the lifeboat. They continued rowing east for another day and on 23 October they were picked up by HMS Clematis. The Clematis landed them at Methil on 26 October. The second mate, the steward and the messboy were subsequently hospitalised for a period of time. [2]

Related Research Articles

German submarine U-333 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 11 March 1940 at the Nordseewerke yard at Emden, launched on 14 June 1941, and commissioned on 25 August 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Peter-Erich Cremer. After training with the 5th U-boat Flotilla at Kiel, on 1 January 1942 U-333 was transferred to the 3rd U-boat Flotilla based at La Pallice for front-line service.

German submarine <i>U-48</i> (1939) German World War II submarine

German submarine U-48 was a Type VIIB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II, and the most successful that was commissioned. During her two years of active service, U-48 sank 51 ships for a total of 299,477 GRT and 1,060 tons; she also damaged four more for a total of 27,877 GRT over twelve war patrols conducted during the opening stages of the Battle of the Atlantic.

German submarine <i>U-255</i> German World War II submarine

German submarine U-255 was a Type VIIC U-boat that served in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 21 December 1940 at the Bremer Vulkan yard at Bremen-Vegesack, launched on 8 October 1941 and commissioned on 29 November 1941 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Reinhart Reche.

German submarine <i>U-43</i> (1939) German world war II submarine

German submarine U-43 was a Type IXA U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The keel for U-43 was laid down in August 1938 at Bremen; she was launched in May 1939 and commissioned in August.

Vorwärts was a wolfpack of German U-boats that operated from 25 August to 26 September 1942, in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. They attacked several convoys, principally Convoy ON 127, sailing from Liverpool to New York, and sank fifteen ships for a total of 79,331 gross register tons (GRT), and damaged nine (81,141 GRT).

SS <i>Stalingrad</i>

SS Stalingrad was a steamship of the Soviet Union, named after the Soviet city of Stalingrad, itself named after Joseph Stalin. She was built at Soviet Shipyard No. 189 (Ordzhonikidze) in Leningrad and operated by Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (GUSMP), who homeported her in Vladivostok. She had entered service in 1933.

SS <i>Oliver Ellsworth</i> Liberty ship of WWII

SS Oliver Ellsworth was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Oliver Ellsworth, an American lawyer, judge, politician, and diplomat. He was a framer of the United States Constitution, a United States Senator from Connecticut, and the third Chief Justice of the United States.

SS <i>Soesterberg</i> Dutch cargo steamship

SS Soesterberg was a Dutch-owned cargo steamship that was built in Belgium in 1927 and sunk by a U-boat in 1940 in the Battle of the Atlantic.

The SS Nerissa was a passenger and cargo steamer which was torpedoed and sunk on 30 April 1941 during World War II by the German submarine U-552 following 12 wartime voyages between Canada and Britain. She was the only transport carrying Canadian Army troops to be lost during World War II.

MV British Prudence was a tanker built by Sir James Laing & Sons Ltd. of Sunderland in 1939 and operated by the British Tanker Company. A U-boat sank her in 1942 off the coast of Newfoundland. She was a victim of the Second Happy Time: the Kriegsmarine's Operation Paukenschlag to sink Allied merchant shipping in the Western Atlantic

SS Santa Elisa was a refrigerated cargo ship built for the United States Maritime Commission by Federal Shipbuilding of Kearny, New Jersey in 1941.

SS <i>Thurso</i>

SS Thurso was a cargo steamship operated by Ellerman's Wilson Line. Thurso was built in 1919 by S. P. Austin & Sons in Sunderland as the War Bramble for the Shipping Controller. Displacing 2,436 tons she had a speed of 9 knots. She was sold to Ellerman Lines while still building and remained with them until lost in the Second World War.

German submarine U-65 was a Type IXB U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. Over the course of six war patrols between 9 April 1940 and 28 April 1941, she sank twelve ships and damaged three others for a total loss of 88,664 gross register tons (GRT).

SS Point Pleasant Park was a merchant steamship constructed for Canada's Merchant Navy in 1942 during the Second World War as part of Canada's Park ship program. She carried a variety of wartime cargoes to Atlantic and Indian Ocean ports until the German submarine U-510 sank her off the coast of South Africa on 23 February 1945 as Point Pleasant Park was sailing independently from Saint John, New Brunswick to Cape Town. Point Pleasant Park was the last vessel sunk in South African waters during the Second World War.

MV Abosso was a passenger, mail, and cargo liner, the flagship of Elder Dempster Lines. In peacetime she ran scheduled services between Liverpool and West Africa. In the Second World War she was a troop ship, running between the United Kingdom, West Africa, and South Africa.

SS Stolwijk, a Dutch cargo ship of 2,489 tons, was wrecked off the coast of Donegal on 6 December 1940. She was part of a Convoy SC 13 sailing from the Dominion of Newfoundland to Liverpool, England, when her rudder was damaged in a fierce storm. Attempts to rescue her by her destroyer escort failed and she went on the rocks off Tory Island, County Donegal, Ireland. Ten of her crew were lost but the remaining 18 were rescued the following day by Arranmore Lifeboat and landed safely in Burtonport. The rescue of the survivors was conducted in terrible weather conditions and both the RNLI and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands awarded medals to the Irish lifeboat crew.

SS <i>Alice F. Palmer</i> Liberty ship of World War II

SS Alice F. Palmer was a liberty ship built by California Shipbuilding Corporation of Los Angeles, Laid down on 12 February 1943 and launched on 12 March 1943 for the War Shipping Administration (WSA) with a hull# 726. Named for Alice Freeman Palmer, President of Wellesley College from 1881 to 1887 and Dean of Women at the University of Chicago from 1892 to 1895. Alice F. Palmer call sign was KKTF. She was operated as a United States Merchant Marine ship by the American President Lines of San Francisco. Alice F. Palmer was torpedoed and sank off Mozambique on July 10, 1943, during World War II.

SS Richard Bland was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Richard Bland, an American planter and statesman from Virginia. He served for many terms in the House of Burgesses, was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774 and 1775, and is considered a Founding Fathers of the United States.

SS Nailsea Court was a UK cargo steamship. She was launched in 1936 in Sunderland, England. She was named after Nailsea Court in Somerset, England, which is an historic Elizabethan manor house. A U-boat sank her in the North Atlantic in March 1943. 45 men died and only four survived.

SS Blitar was a Dutch cargo steamship that was launched in Rotterdam in 1922 and sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1943. She is notable for having fought off three u-boats in succession for nearly ten hours before U-632 finally managed to sink her. 26 of Blitar's complement were killed.

References

Coordinates: 57°28′N11°10′W / 57.467°N 11.167°W / 57.467; -11.167