MS ''Oslofjord'' was an
ocean liner
An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships).
Ca ...
built in 1938 by
A/G Weser Shipbuilders,
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
,
Germany, for
Norwegian America Line. She was of 18,673
gross register tons and could carry 860 passengers. She would have an uneventful career until 1939 were two separate incidents happened. One from 27 April 1939, where she collided with the American an
pilot boat, and another where she struck a mine sinking her.
Career
Early years
The 18,673 GRT motor ship was built on 15 May 1936, and launched on 29 December 1937, at Bremer Schiffswerft AG Weser, was 171.75 meters long, 22.37 meters wide, and five decks high. 860 passengers (152 in cabin class, 307 in tourist class, and 401 in third class) and 310 crew members were taken on board.
The Oslofjord was powered by four seven-cylinder diesel engines from Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG, which acted on two propellers. The transfer to the owners took place in May 1938. The shipping company Den Norske Amerikalinje was founded in 1910 to establish a passenger service between Norway and the United States. Their ships served the Oslo – Kristiansand – Stavanger – Bergen – New York route.
On 27 April 1939, ''Oslofjord'' collided with the American
pilot boat in the
North Atlantic Ocean west of
Sandy Hook,
New Jersey, off the
Ambrose Lightship
Lightship ''Ambrose'' was the name given to multiple lightships that served as the sentinel beacon marking Ambrose Channel, New York Harbor's main shipping channel.
The first lightstation was established south of the Ambrose Channel off of Sandy ...
at . ''Sandy Hook'' sank in of water, and ''Oslofjord'' rescued all 26 crew members and
harbor pilots on board ''Sandy Hook''.
World War II
During
World War II, ''Oslofjord'' sank after just two years of service on the night of 21–22 January 1941 after hitting a
mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
in the
North Sea off the coast of
England of the
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
on 1 December 1940.
Her wreck lies in of water at .
References
External links
Norway-Heritage: Oslofjord (2)
Ocean liners
Passenger ships of Norway
Norwegian America Line
World War II shipwrecks in the North Sea
Maritime incidents in 1939
Maritime incidents in December 1940
Maritime incidents in January 1941
Ships built in Bremen (state)
Wreck diving sites in England
Ships sunk by mines
1941 in England
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