HNoMS Hitra
Shetland Islands , June 2003
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | SC-718 |
Builder | Fisher Boat Works, Detroit |
Laid down | 22 September 1942 |
Launched | 31 March 1943 |
Commissioned | 25 May 1943 |
Fate | Transferred to Royal Norwegian Navy, October 1943 |
Norway | |
Name | Hitra |
Namesake | Island of Hitra |
Commissioned | 26 October 1943 |
Decommissioned | 8 December 1954 |
Identification |
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Fate | Sold to civilian interests in 1958, gifted to the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum in Horten in 1981; Museum ship |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 125 tons |
Length | 110.6 ft (33.71 m) |
Beam | 18.8 ft (5.73 m) |
Draft | 6 ft (1.83 m) |
Propulsion | Two General Motors diesel engines with 1,200 hp, two shafts. After 1999: Two retrofitted 550 hp MTU 8V 183 TE72 diesel engines. |
Speed | 20 knots (37.04 km/h). Cruising speed after 1999, with MTU engines: 15,2 knots (25.93 km/h) |
Range | 2,500 nautical miles (4,630.00 km) at 10 knots (18.52 km/h) |
Complement | 24 men |
Armament |
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Notes | All the above listed information, unless otherwise noted, was acquired from[1] |
HNoMS Hitra is a Royal Norwegian Navy submarine chaser that saw action during World War II. She is named after the Norwegian island of Hitra.
History
Wartime service
Hitra was originally built as a
In August 1943 US Admiral
The three subchasers were hoisted aboard three Liberty Ships and secured as deck cargo, SC-718 being carried by the Liberty Ship SS Willard Hall, and preparations made to transport them and their crews to an undisclosed location. It was only when the ships were under way that the crews were told that they were bound for Belfast.[3]
The ships arrived in Belfast in early October 1943, where the three subchasers were lifted back into the water, and on 14 October the three ships sailed up the
After assuming command at Rosneath, the Norwegian crews sailed their new vessels first to Derry, and then to Scalloway in Shetland, where they completed their fitting-out. The subchasers'
Hitra and her sister vessels superseded the famous fleet of civilian fishing boats that had formerly run naval operations between Shetland and Norway. During the final two years of World War II the three ships performed a total of 114 missions to occupied Norway, and apart from one incident when a Canadian aircraft fired on Hessa, the voyages were uneventful and there were no casualties.[3] For 43 of her 45 trips to Norway Hitra was under the command of Ingvald Eidsheim.[citation needed]
Late in the war an observer from Admiral Stark's office wrote:[5]
It would be difficult to sum up the value of these three craft in their contribution to the [Allies]. Hundreds of tons of stores and supplies have been delivered to Resistance groups. An enemy plane has been shot down. Countless agents have been taken in and out and great numbers of marooned allied airmen, including Americans, have been helped to evade the Gestapo. Despite very heavy weather the ships have required minimum repairs.
Postwar
After the war Hitra performed coast guard duties until 1953. All three submarine chasers were mothballed at Marvika and formally decommissioned in 1959.[citation needed]
She seemingly ended her days in Karlskrona, Sweden when she sank after someone had opened the bottom valves. It was not until 1981, when the Soviet submarine U 137 (Whiskey on the rocks) ran aground, that S. Moen, the director of the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum in Horten saw the abandoned Hitra in a newspaper image. Subsequently, she was raised and shipped back to Norway, where she was restored to her original condition in 1983–1987.[6]
Today, while still under naval command, Hitra is a
See also
- Other ships built by Fisher Boat Works:
Notes
- ^ Abelsen 1986, p. 278
- ^ a b Priolo, Gary P. "SC-718". Submarine Chaser Photo Archive. NavSource Naval History.
- ^ a b c Treadwell, p.87
- ^ Treadwell, p.88
- ^ Treadwell, p.89
- ^ a b "Åpent skip på KNM Hitra". Norwegian Armed Forces (in Norwegian). 9 June 2008. Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
References
- Abelsen, Frank (1986). Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945 (in Norwegian and English). Oslo: Sem & Stenersen AS. ISBN 82-7046-050-8.
- Treadwell, Theodore R. (2000). Splinter Fleet: The Wooden Subchasers of World War II. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-817-8.