SS Vigrid
{{About|the Norwegian First World War cargo ship||Vigrid (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Norway |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Norway}} |Ship name=Vigrid |Ship namesake=Vígríðr - the large field foretold to host a battle between the forces of the Norse gods and the forces of the jötunn Surtr as part of the events of Ragnarök. |Ship renamed= |Ship owner=*Anton Barth von der Lippe (1915–1917)
|Ship operator= |Ship registry=*Tønsberg (1915–1917)
|Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Bergens Mekaniske Verksted in Bergen, Norway |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number=191 |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=29 October 1915 |Ship completed= |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship identification=*Code letters:
|Ship fate=Torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat U-95 on 31 December 1917 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type=Cargo ship |Ship tonnage=*{{GRT|1,617}}
|Ship displacement= |Ship length={{convert|74.5|m|ft | abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|11.5|m|ft | abbr=on}}
|Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|15.8|ft|m | abbr=on}}
|Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship sail plan= |Ship power=885 ihp |Ship propulsion=Triple-expansion steam engine |Ship speed= |Ship capacity= |Ship crew= |Ship notes= }} |
SS Vigrid was a Norwegian steam-powered cargo ship built in 1915. Sailing during the First World War, she was torpedoed and sunk without warning by a German U-boat on 31 December 1917.
Construction
A 1,617 gross register tons (951 net register tons) vessel, she was built by the shipyard Bergens Mekaniske Verksted in the Western Norwegian port city of Bergen. Having yard number 191, she was launched on 29 October 1915 and completed the next month.{{cite news|title=Bergensdamperen "Vigrid" sænket nytaarsaften |date=2 January 1918 |work=Aftenposten Aften |page=1 |language=Norwegian}}{{csr|register=MSI|id=5603975|shipname=Vigrid |access-date=6 June 2011}} Vigrid was powered by a single triple-expansion 885 ihp steam turbine engine. She measured {{convert|74.5|m|ft}} between perpendiculars, with a beam of {{convert|11.5|m|ft}} and a draught of {{convert|15.8|ft|m}}. After completion she was assigned the code letters MLRT.{{Cite web |last=Tandberg |first=Arne |title=Norske skipsforlis i 1917 |url=http://www.skipet.no/skipsforlis/forlislister/1917.doc |format=.doc |publisher=Norwegian Shipping History Society |access-date=6 June 2011 |language=Norwegian |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727163601/http://www.skipet.no/skipsforlis/forlislister/1917.doc |archive-date=27 July 2011}}
First World War
Vigrid sailed during the First World War, with H.M. Jensen as her captain. She belonged to the company of ship-broker Anton Barth von der Lippe in the port city Tønsberg, until she was bought by ship-broker Johan Waage's company D/S A/S Vigrid of Bergen in August 1917.{{Cite Uboat.net
|name=Steamer Vigrid
|id=6334
|type=1ship
|access-date=6 June 2011
}}{{#tag:ref|Anton Barth von der Lippe would later acquire another ship of the same name, MS Vigrid. She was built by the German shipyard Deutsche Werft in Hamburg as MS Titania, before being bought by the shipping company Bruun & von der Lippes Rederi in 1937 and renamed Vigrid. She was sold later in 1937, and sunk as part of the Second World War convoy HX-133 in 1941.{{cite web|first=Siri Holm |last=Lawson |url=http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/vigrid.html |title=M/S Vigrid |date=28 January 2010 |publisher=Warsailors.com |access-date=3 June 2011}}|group=Note}}
Although Norway remained officially neutral throughout the First World War, her large fleet of merchant ships, over 2,000 strong, served a vital role in keeping the United Kingdom with supplies. The Norwegian merchant navy suffered heavy losses to German U-boats during the war, losing close to half its ships, with an official death toll of 1,892 sailors.{{sfn|Hermansen|2008|pp=109–111, 117}}{{sfn|Derry|1952|p=5}}
File:German Submarine War Zone Announced 1 February 1917.jpeg, well within the zone.}}]]
=Sinking=
{{See also|U-boat Campaign (World War I)}}
On 31 December 1917 she was attacked and torpedoed without warning by the German U-boat {{SMU|U-95||2}}, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Athalwin Prinz. U-95 belonged to the German 4th U-boat Flotilla. Vigrid sank in the English Channel some {{convert|10|nmi|km}} west-north-west of Rundelstone Buoy, at {{Coord|50|03||N|05|55||W|display=inline,title}}. At the time of her sinking, she was en route from the port of Barry in Wales to Rouen in France with a cargo of 2,102 tons of coal.{{Cite Uboat.net
|name=U 95
|id=95
|type=1sub
|access-date=7 June 2011
}} Five members of the crew were lost, while the captain and thirteen other crewmen survived the loss of the ship and landed at Penzance in Cornwall. Three of the sailors lost on Vigrid were Swedish citizens, the other two Norwegians.
=Aftermath=
On 16 January 1918, 16 days after sinking Vigrid, U-95 was lost with all 36 crew members to unknown causes near Hardelot in France. Before being lost, U-95 had managed to sink a total of 14 ships and damage another three vessels during the course of the six patrols she carried out in her career.
References
=Notes=
{{Reflist|group=Note}}
=Citations=
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- {{Cite book| last=Derry| first=T.K. | editor-last=Butler| editor-first=J.R.M| editor-link=James Ramsay Montagu Butler| year=1952 | edition=1st | title=The campaign in Norway| series=History of the Second World War: Campaigns Series | location=London | publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-NWE-Norway/}}
- {{cite book |title=Hardt Styrbord: Glimt fra norsk sjøkrigshistorie |editor-last=Hermansen |editor-first=Max |year=2008 |publisher=Sjømilitære Samfunds forlag |location=Oslo |isbn=978-82-997703-0-9 |language=Norwegian}}
{{refend}}
{{December 1917 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigrid}}
Category:Ships built in Bergen
Category:World War I merchant ships of Norway
Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I