HNoMS Vigra
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Sister ship HNoMS Hitra entering Scalloway harbour, June 2003
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: | SC-1061 |
| Builder: | Harris and Parsons Inc. of East Greenwich, RI |
| Laid down: | 23 May 1942 |
| Launched: | 26 September 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 5 January 1943 |
| Fate: | Transferred to Royal Norwegian Navy, 12 October 1943 |
| History | |
 Norway
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| Name: | Vigra |
| Namesake: | Island of Vigra |
| Commissioned: | 26 October 1943 |
| 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 |
| Speed: | 20 knots (37.04 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 Abelsen 1986, p. 278 |
The HNoMS Vigra was a Royal Norwegian Navy submarine chaser that saw action during World War II. She was named after the Norwegian island of Vigra.
The Vigra was originally built as a SC-497 class submarine chaser for the United States Navy. She was laid down on 23 May 1942 by Harris and Parsons Inc. of East Greenwich, RI and launched on 26 September 1942. She was commissioned into the US Navy as USS SC-1061 on 5 January 1943.
In August 1943 US Admiral Harold R. Stark, commander of US Naval Forces Europe, ordered SC-1061 and two other SC-class subchasers - SC-683 and SC-718 - to be transferred to Britain. Stationed in Miami at the time, the three subchasers received top secret orders to report to Brooklyn Navy Yard where they were to await further orders. When they arrived at the Naval Yard, the vessels' commanders were ordered to warn their crews to observe strict silence about their movements and were told that the three ships had been picked for a "special purpose".
The three subchasers were hoisted aboard three Liberty Ships and secured as deck cargo 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.
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 Firth of Clyde to the US Naval base at Rosneath, where a group of exiled Norwegian sailors of the Shetland Bus organisation were awaiting the vessels' arrival. It was not until the three ships moored that their US crews finally learned that the purpose of their journey was to train the Norwegians in the operation of the subchasers' equipment, and that upon completion of the training they were to hand their ships over to Norwegian command. The training lasted just a week, then the transfer of command was completed.
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Wikipedia