TYPE: Anti Submarine Whaler/Patrol vessel
BUILT AT: Smith’s Dock Co. Ltd Middelsbrough, England
LAUNCHED: July 1929
OWNER: Hvalfangerselskapet Antartic A/S, Tønsberg
REQUISITONNED: July 1940
IN COMMAND FROM: 1. January 1941 - 1945
ARMED AND READY: 14. June 1941
PREVIOUS NAME: KOS II
ARMAMENT
Spoiler
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1x 12 Pounder HA
-Caliber in metric: 76.2mm
-Barrel length in calibers: L/45
-Placement: Bow -
2x1 12.7mm Colt MG/52 Machinegun
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1x2 12.7mm Twin Wickers Mk.IV turret
-Placement: Aft, “turret” placed above the depth charge racks -
18x ML 9.5" Depth charges
-2x Throwers Mk.IIN
-2x Racks -
RADAR ASDIC Type 123B
TECHNICAL DATA
Displacement: 248 Gross tonnage
Lenght: 35.26 Meter
Width: 7.34 Meter
Depth: 3.90 Meter
MACHINERY
1x Triple Expansion steam eigne
Power: 900 Indicated Horse Powers
Speed: 13 Knots (24.07 km/h)
Bunkers: 88 Metric Tons of oil
Range: 2900 n. miles at 10 knots (18.52 Km/h)
CREW
Estimated crew: 27 Men
TIMELINE OF IMPORTANT EVENTS
7/1929: Built as a whaleboat at Smiths Dock, Middlesbrough for the Whaling Company Kosmos A/S - KOS II
1936: Sold to the whaling company Pelagos A/S (Bruun & von der Lippe), Tønsberg - KOS II
1937: Sold to the Whaling company Antarctic A/S (Bruun & von der Lippe), Tønsberg - KOS II
1939/40: The Pelagos expedition in the Arctic Ocean
1941: Requisitioned in January 1941 for service by the Norwegian Navy and was used as a rescue boat for aircrews. Got the name - HORTEN. Patrol boat in the North Sea 1941-1945.
1943: Was deployed as an anti-submarine weapon. Operated like this until the end of the war.
1945: Command started on 1 January 1945.
1945: Returned to owners May 1945 and regained her original name, KOS II
1952: Sold to Whale Products Pty Ltd, Brisbane, Australia.
1963: Sold to Gurley Station Pty. Ltd., Brisbane.
1964: Sold to Ta Hing Co. (Hong Kong?) Ltd., Brisbane.
1966: Sold on to Tuna & Trawling Industries Pty. Ltd., Brisbane.
1974: Sunk in October off Tangalooma, Queensland, Australia.
HISTORY
During the summer of 1940 the Norwegian navy seized 16 Norwegian whaling boats in South Africa. they were taken to Halifax in Canada for conversion into patrol vessels. the whaleboats proved to be in such poor condition that extensive repair work had to be started at the same time as the rebuilding. 7 of these whaleboats were therefore sent to Great Britain for conversion to minesweepers, and the rest were converted to patrol vessels. KOS II/HNoMS Horten was one of those that was converted into a patrol vessel, and which you will hear about here.
I would like to suggest a whale boat that was Requisitioned by the Norwegian navy after the German invasion of Norway. This vessel was armed and used as a patrol vessel throughout the war.
Two of the patrol vessels that were sent over to Storbitania (HNoMS Horten and HNoMS Risør) were stationed in Torshavn in the Faroe Islands in the last half of June 1941, while three others (Modle, Bodø and Narvik) were stationed in Liverpool. HNoMS Risør was there from 30 June 1941 to 17 August 1943. Immediately after the arrival in the Faroe Islands, HNoMS Horten and Risør were immediately put into the demanding patrol and escort service in the rough and stormy waters of this archipelago with Torshavn as their base. During this service these two vessels came into contact with German warships (U-boats) only once. but they were several times attacked and bombed by enemy aircraft, this both during the passage and while they lay still at anchor in Torshavn. Also, during their many patrols and escort tours, they sank many drifting mines with rifle fire.
One day in July, for example, both HNoMS Horten and HNoMS Risør were out on patrol duty for 14 of the month’s days. And during one of these patrols, HNoMS Risør (13/7) was attacked by a German aircraft, but it was chased away by the vessel’s anti-aircraft defenses without getting a chance to drop any bombs or strafe them with machine gun fire. In the months that followed, these two vessels were present on patrol and escort duty, and during this service, among other things, many neutral merchant ships were brought up and brought into Skopenfjord to be vetoed before they were allowed to continue their journey.
In the afternoon of 5 August, HNoMS Risør was attacked by a German Heinkel aircraft without being damaged. During the attack, the vessel fired around 80 shots with the machine guns at the aircraft before it disappeared out of firing range. There were several more services without any significant enemy contact. But while they were on the nest in Thorshavn, they were attacked on 11 and 22 October, also on 4 November by enemy aircraft that dropped bombs on them and covered them with machine gun fire. During the last attack on 4 November, one discharged deckhand was killed and one man wounded on HNoMS Horten, but otherwise none of these vessels suffered any damage or losses during these attacks.
During patrolling outside Skopenfjorden on 19 November, HNoMS Horten was partially damaged during an attack by a German aircraft that came at the vessel at high altitude and was partially covered by cloud cover. The aircraft dived towards the vessel and dropped four bombs at the same time as the aircraft covered the vessel with machine gun fire, two of these bombs exploded near the vessel and caused damage both to the deck and to the machinery, and of the crew one man was wounded, and another was so frightened and shocked that he jumped over the boat and into the sea where he unfortunately drowned. During the attack, HNoMS Horten resisted by firing at the aircraft with the machine guns without damaging it. Shortly afterwards the aircraft attacked again, and now from a much lower altitude than the first attack dropped three bombs which fell into the sea without causing further damage to the vessel. After this attack, the plane flew away and HNoMS Horten, despite the damage, made it to Thorshavn with her own help. the ship then lay for a couple of months in Petershead and Aberdeen in Scotland to have the damage caused by the plane repaired. On 26 March 1942, the ship was back at its station in Thorshavn again.
While escorting a convoy, which consisted of two British merchant ships on their way from Kirkwall to Thorshavn, however, HNoMS Risør made contact with an enemy submarine in the afternoon of 21 May 1942, across the port side at 1,700 metres. The commander of the vessel, Captain Lieutenant Christensen, ordered the merchant ships to continue their journey and immediately attacked the contact, making a total of three attacks with sinking mines. After these attacks, no further contact was made, so therefore HNoMS Risør set course to catch up with the convoy.
ALBUM
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SOURCES
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Nasjonalbiblioteket
Patruljefartøy HNoMS Risør FY-203 - Krigsseilerregisteret
Redirecting...
Norske Marinefartøy – Bodoni Forlag
Leselystig 39: Modeller som forteller – Norsk Marinehistorie | Polar Coordinate
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