Skule Valentin Storheill (17 August 1907 – 25 November 1992) was a Norwegian naval officer who reached prominence in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

while serving aboard Norwegian warships within the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, and received Norway's highest military decoration, the

War Cross with Sword The War Cross with Sword ( Norwegian Bokmål: ''Krigskorset med sverd, '' Norwegian Nynorsk: ''Krigskrossen med sverd'') is the highest ranking Norwegian gallantry decoration. It is awarded for extraordinary brave actions or extraordinary lead ...

Early life

Storheill was born and grew up in Brønnøysund. He joined the Norwegian Merchant Navy but then joined the Naval Academy in

Horten Horten () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Horten (town) ...

. He became a naval officer in 1928, and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1931 and by 1936 was an Inspection Officer at the Naval Academy.

Military career

World War II

In June 1940 he was the Norwegian liaison officer on board the

heavy cruiser A heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in calibre, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Treat ...

HMS ''Devonshire'', flying the Flag of Vice Admiral John Cunningham, which evacuated Norway's

King Haakon VII Haakon VII (; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was King of Norway from 18 November 1905 until his death in 1957. The future Haakon VII was born in Copenhagen as Prince Carl of Denmark. He was the second son of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess ...

and Government ministers from

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

to Great Britain to continue the struggle against the German occupation of their country. Then, as a Lieutenant-Commander, Storheill was in command of the Norwegian

lend-lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...

destroyer HNoMS ''St Albans'' from July 1941. Along with other British warships, ''St Albans'' sank a German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

on 3 August 1941. For this he received the War Cross. He became Commander in 1942 and took command of the newly built destroyer HMS ''Eskdale''. He participated in

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

(the Allied landing in North Africa) in the autumn of 1942. ''Eskdale'' was sunk in battle with German

E-boat E-boat was the Western Allies' designation for the fast attack craft (German: ''Schnellboot'', or ''S-Boot'', meaning "fast boat"; plural ''Schnellboote'') of the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II; ''E-boat'' could refer to a pat ...

in the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

in 1943. Voluntarily reducing his rank again to Lieutenant-Commander, he took command of the destroyer HNoMS ''Stord'' from August 1943 until the end of June 1944. In the

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the First ...

, ''Stord'' escorted convoys to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

through the

Norwegian Sea The Norwegian Sea (; ; ) is a marginal sea, grouped with either the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separate ...

and

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...

, and took part in the

Battle of North Cape The Battle of the North Cape was a Second World War naval battle that occurred on 26 December 1943, as part of the Arctic campaign. The , on an operation to attack Arctic convoys of war materiel from the western Allies to the Soviet Union, ...

in which the German battleship ''Scharnhorst'' was sunk on December 26, 1943. He took his ship within 400 yards (360 m) of ''Scharnhorst'' before firing torpedoes. In ''Stord'' he was also present at the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

in June 1944, and there is a small model of the ship in the D-Day Museum at

Arromanches Arromanches-les-Bains (; or simply Arromanches) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France. Geography Arromanches-les-Bains is 12 km north-east of Bayeux and 10 km west of Courseulles-su ...

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Towards the end of the war, Storheill escorted Allied convoys in the Atlantic and the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

, and in May 1945 led Norwegian authorities back to

following the German surrender. Also as a result of his war service he was created a Commander with Star of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II, known to posterity as St. Olav. Just be ...

followed by awards of the St. Olav's Medal with Oak Branch, the War Medal, the Grand Cross of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

(

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

), and Commander of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...

(

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

). He was honoured by France with the

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

and the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. He was awarded the British Distinguished Service Cross on three occasions.

Postwar career

In 1946, Storheill was Commander and Chief of Naval Staff, 1946 and 1949 he became chief of Coastal Squadron. Storheill was promoted to vice admiral in 1951 and was until 1954 Chief of the Navy. From 1954 to 1958, Storheill was chief of the Norwegian military mission to the United States. He was also a member of the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Military Committee and the liaison officer to NATO's

Allied Command Atlantic An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

with its headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. In 1958 Storheill became commander of Supreme Northern Norway with headquarters in

Harstad Harstad may refer to: Places *Harstad (town) Harstad (; ) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Harstad Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is also the administrative centre of Harstad Municipality. The city has a populati ...

. Storheill moved to Bodø in 1963 and there opened a new and bigger war headquarters at Reitan. He oversaw a period when NATO changed its strategy from massive retaliation to so-called flexible response, which resulted in an ever-increasing NATO training operations in Northern Norway from 1964. Storheill ended his military career as director of the Joint Staff College from 1967 to 1969 and spent his last years in

Drøbak Drøbak is a town and the centre of the municipality of Frogn, in Akershus county, Norway. The city is located along the Oslofjord, and has 13,409 inhabitants. History Drøbak and Frogn was established as a parish on its own through a royal d ...

Honours and awards

* Commander with Star of the

* St. Olav's Medal With Oak Branch * War Medal *

Defence Medal 1940–1945 The Defence Medal 1940–1945 () is the award rewarded to those military and civilian personnel who participated in the fight against the German invasion and occupation of Norway between 1940 and 1945. The Defence Medal 1940–1945 can be award ...

* Haakon VII's 70-Medal * Distinguished Service Cross and 2 bars (United Kingdom) * Commander of the

(Denmark) * Officer of the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

(United States) * Commander of the

(France) *

Croix de guerre 1939–1945 (France) Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort d ...

* Grand Cross of the

Order of the House of Orange The Order of the House of Orange (Dutch: ''Huisorde van Oranje''), sometimes referred to as the House Order of Orange, is a dynastic order of the House of Orange-Nassau, the royal family of the Netherlands similar to the Royal Victorian Order in ...

References

*http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Skule_Storheill/utdypning {{DEFAULTSORT:Storheill, Skule 1907 births 1992 deaths People from Brønnøy Royal Norwegian Navy personnel of World War II Commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the War Cross with Sword (Norway) Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal with Oak Branch Officers of the Legion of Merit Commanders of the Legion of Honour Grand Crosses of the Order of the House of Orange Royal Norwegian Navy admirals