HMCS Norsyd
Norsyd as K20 Haganah , ca.1949
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The HMCS Norsyd was a Canadian corvette in World War II , which was later used as the immigrant ship Hagana and most recently as the Israeli corvette K-20 Haganah .
Second World War
The ship was ordered by the Royal Canadian Navy on January 2, 1942 as a unit of the revised Flower class of the 1942-1943 construction program at Morton Engineering and Dry Dock Co. in Québec . When the keel was laid on January 14, 1943, the ship was given hull number K520, and when it was launched on July 31, 1943, it was named Norsyd . "Norsyd" is derived from "North Sydney". First in command of the Norsyd was Jeffry Reginald Briggs from November 15, 1943, and thus before the ship was officially commissioned on December 22. Briggs held command until October 20, 1944.
After the end of the war, the Norsyd was decommissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy on June 25, 1945 and sold on July 1, 1945. This was followed by the conversion to a cargo ship and the renaming to Balboa , named after the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa . In civilian use, the ship sailed the Canadian and US east coast.
Refugee ship
In 1946 the Balboa was up for sale in New York . She was one of a total of 12 ships that were bought by the Mossad le Alija Bet in the USA . One of these 12 ships was the President Warfield , which later became famous as the Exodus . The Mossad le Alija Bet organized the illegal immigration of European Jews to Palestine and is not identical to the Mossad secret service . He could not officially appear as the buyer of the ships, but instead used a front company called F. & B. Shipping Company. According to various contemporary witnesses, F. & B. secretly stood for " fuck the British ".
From New York the ship was transferred to Marseille , where all of the weapons technology remaining on the ship was removed. Instead, accommodation and a galley were installed so that the ship could be used as a refugee ship. In Sète , the Balboa took over a total of 999 (some sources name 1015) European Jews for the crossing to Palestine. For this voyage, the ship was given a code name, in accordance with the customs of the Palyam at the time , and was called Hagana based on the Jewish underground organization . This first voyage as a refugee ship did not take the Hagana to the coast of Palestine, but was initially used as an escort ship. After a five-day crossing, she reached the agreed meeting point with the Beriah about 50 km from Haifa . There, on the high seas, the passengers switched to the Beriah , which continued to Haifa . This was later applied by the British and all passengers were interned in Atlit .
The Hagana returned to Europe, was supplied with new fuel near Piraeus and then drove to Split . In Split, a pilot got on who accompanied the Hagana through the Yugoslavian islands to Bakar . The Hagana took 2678 passengers there, including 430 children. That was the largest number until then that was transported in an Aliyah Bet ship at one time. On July 24, 1946, the Hagana Bakar left for Haifa. After a five-day crossing, the night before the planned arrival, the fuel was completely exhausted. The ship's command of the Hagana therefore asked British military ships that were in the vicinity for help. The request for help was denied, however, and the British ships left the Hagana without recognizing it as an illegal immigrant ship. As a makeshift measure, the wooden furnishings in the accommodations on the Hagana were shredded and the machine was fired with them. On July 29, the ship was only a few miles away from Haifa when it was seized by HMS Venus . The Hagana was rammed at the stern , causing the steering gear and the engine to fail. Disabled in this way, the ship was towed into port. Initially, crew and passengers were kept on board the Hagana ; the High Commissioner wanted to increase the pressure on the British government in London to make a decision on the overcrowded detention center in Atlit. In the meantime, the American and Canadian volunteers could be smuggled out of the port of Haifa disguised as dock workers. After the discussions in London that would lead to the government's declaration on the deportation of illegal immigrants to Cyprus ( Operation Igloo ) on August 13th , the Jews of the Hagana were interned in Atlit on August 2nd . For the next 22 months, the damaged Hagana lay anchored at the breakwaters in front of the port of Haifa as part of the collection of confiscated immigrant ships known as the “Shadow Fleet” .
Israeli War of Independence
On May 21, 1948, the Medinat haYehudim was the first ship of the “Shadow Fleet” to leave Haifa under the Turkish flag. On the crossing to Tel Aviv , the Turkish flag was lowered, the Israeli flag was hoisted and the ship was renamed Eilat . She was the first warship of the State of Israel and had the task of protecting Tel Aviv from attacks and providing escort to arriving refugee ships . Two more ships of the "Shadow Fleet" were prepared for the war effort under high pressure. Sometimes with weapons dummies as a deception: on June 9th the Josiah Wedgwood , and on July 18th the Hagana . The Hagana , now officially called the K-20 Haganah , was the third warship of the young Israeli Navy . Later the K-24 Maoz and K-26 Noga were added. These five ships were the backbone of the Israeli Navy in the War of Independence .
Only a few Israelis on the ships had nautical training or war experience from World War II. The entire seafaring experience was partly based on the operations with the refugee ships. The main burden of responsibility fell on the Machal volunteers, who trained most of the Israelis during combat operations. Therefore, volunteers with seafaring and naval warfare experience were increasingly recruited.
On August 24th, the Haganah and Wedgwood were used in Operation Pirate Loot , in which 8,000 rifles and 10 million rounds of ammunition were taken over from the captured Argiro off Crete . After the reloading of the weapons, the Argiro was sunk.
On October 19, 1948, the Haganah patrolled in a union with Wedgwood and Noga under the leadership of the Maoz off the coast near Gaza , Paul Shulman was the chief of operations on the Maoz. The four Israeli ships were involved in a skirmish with an Egyptian corvette and three Egyptian Spitfires . A Spitfire was shot down and the corvette was damaged, but the Egyptian warship managed to move to Port Said . Two days later the four Israeli ships sighted the 1400-ton Egyptian flagship Amir Faruq and a mine- layer off the Gaza coast . At the direction of Ben-Gurion , an attempt should be made to provoke the Egyptians to break a ceasefire in force at the time . Therefore, the Israeli association drove past the Amir Faruq with only a kilometer away . The Egyptians had occupied all the arms and turned them against the Israelis, but did not open fire. Later that evening, a radio message was sent to the Israeli ships that the Amir Faruq was to be attacked aggressively. Therefore, the Maoz separated from the formation at around 6.40 p.m. and launched three explosive vessels and one search boat at around 9.10 p.m. The detonators were Yohai Ben-Nun , Zalman Abramov and Yaakov Vardi. The attack on the two Egyptian ships took place at around 10 p.m., two explosive boats were directed onto the Amir Faruq , the third onto the mine-layer with Ben-Nun at the helm. As a result of a hit in the boiler room , the Amir Faruq sank , killing around 500 Egyptians. The mine-layer was badly damaged but managed to escape.
After the War of Independence, the Haganah remained in service until the late 1950s. After that it was retired and scrapped.
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.readyayeready.com/ships/shipview.php?id=1291&ship=NORSYD
- ↑ http://www.israelvets.com/twelve_american_ships.html
literature
- Ken MacPherson, Marc Milner: Corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy, 1939–1945 , 2001, Vanwell Publishing, Ontario, ISBN 1-55125-052-7 (first edition 1993)
Web links
- Image of the Norsyd
- IsraelVets.com (English)
- The Voyage of the Hagana at Palyam.org (Eng.)
- uboat.net (engl.)
- Wertheimer.info (English)
- ReadyAyeReady.com (Engl.)
- Palmach.org.il (Eng.)
