RFA Northmark

RFA Northmark

 

The above image would appear to be the ship when she was in commission as HMS Bulawayo.

Previous name:                        Westerwald  Nordmark
Subsequent name:                   HMS Bulawayo

Class:

Pennant No:                            A121

Laid down:                              14 November 1936

Builder:                                    Schichau, Elbing

Launched:                                5 October 1937
Into Service:                             9 May 1945
Out of service:                          1947 to Royal Navy

Fate:                                        Scrapped

 

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

 

As a German Naval Auxiliary

 

16 January 1939 commissioned into the German Navy

July 1939 deployed with the Gneisenau off the island of Maderia

22 August 1939 deployed from Germany to support the German Pocket Battleship Deutschland in the North Atlantic.

25 October 1939  having changed her name to Nordmark she refuelled Deutschland

12 March 1940 entered Swinemunde with the German Cruiser Emden and the Battleship Lutzow - became icebound

13 May 1940 off Jan Mayen Island refueled the commercial raider 'Widder' during the laters break out into the North Atlantic. Nordmark had suffered damage to her bow and stern from ice.

27 July 1940 damaged during an air raid near Jutland.

12 September 1940 until 21 May, 1941 supplied the Admiral Sheer

7 February 1941 refuelled the raider Kormoran off the Cape Verde Islands while disguised as an American ship Dixie

14 March 1941 Able Seaman Arthur Herbert Freeman a British merchant seaman and a prisoner held on the ship and originally captured on the ss Afric Star shot dead by German guards during a fire and what they (the Germans) perceived as an attempt to take over the ship .  He is buried at VILLENAVE D'ORNON (ST. BRICE) COMMUNAL CEMETERY, Bordeaux, France

14 April 1941 while purporting to be an American tanker Prairie spotted by an seaplane from HMS Alcantara in the South Atlantic Ocean - challenged, accepted as genuine and allowed to continue on her voyage. Later it was found she was not the  American ship named Prairie.

16 April 1941 RASed with an Italian submarine Archimede in the South Atlantic Ocean

17 April 1941 RASed with another Italian submarine Guglielmotti in the South Atlantic Ocean

17 April 1941 RASed with a third Italian submarine Ferraris in the South Atlantic Ocean

22 April 1941 RASed with a fourth Italian submarine Perla in the South Atlantic Ocean

2 May 1941 RASed with German submarines U105, U106 and U107

14 May 1941 while returning to Germany from the South Atlantic one of her British prisoners died - Chief Engineer Officer Robert Scott Carruthers of the ss Craftsman who had been wounded when his ship was attacked and sunk by the German commercial raider 'Kormoran' on the 9 April 1941. Mr Scott was buried at sea with full military honours and is remembered with pride on the Tower Hill Memorial

19 May 1941 while returning to Germany her passage was via the English Channel under escort of ships of the German Navy and Airforce with no attack from British forces.

20 May 1941 injured prisoners from ss Craftsman (including the ships Master who had been blinded) were discharged at Cuxhaven. Berthed later at Hamburg.

March 1942 to April 1945 Operations in Norway

As the German supply ship Nordmark

9 May 1945 captured by British forces at Copenhagen

8 June 1945 arrived Rosyth escorted by HMS Loch Fada.

25 June 1945 arrived at Palmers, Hebburn on Tyne.

As a British Naval Auxiliary

January 1946 renamed Northmark and considered for RFA Service.

4 May 1946 Stoker Edward Walker discharged dead. He is buried in Milford Haven Cemetery in Section A grave 148

12 June 1947 berthed at Portsmouth Harbour

July 1947 on completion of refit was commissioned as HMS Bulawayo

30 June 1947 Captain Kenneth A Short DSO Royal Navy appointed as Commanding Officer

29 September 1947 sailed from Portsmouth Harbour

18 February 1948 sailed Sheerness to Point-a-Pierre, Trinidad arriving on 3 March 1948 to load.

6 March 1948 sailed Trinidad to Sheerness. A total of four of these round trips were made arriving at Sheerness on 29 June 1948 at the end of the last trip

20 March 1948 Leading Signalman Ernest D Cook JX 142225 discharged dead

13 September 1948 off Portland undertook a practice RAS with HMS Jutland

23 September 1948 entered Portland Harbour

14 October 1948 berthed at Portsmouth Harbour

26 September 1949 sailed from Portsmouth Harbour

29 September 1949 berthed at Portsmouth Harbour

11 October 1949 sailed from Portsmouth Harbour

13 October 1949 berthed at Portsmouth Harbour

17 October 1949 sailed from Portsmouth Harbour

24 October 1949 sailed Devonport to Gibraltar arriving on 29 October.

31 October 1949 sailed Gibraltar to Malta GC

10 November 1949 berthed at Malta

22 November 1949 off Malta RASed with HMS Gravelines (trough method) - training RAS - only 47 tons of FFO transferred 

23 November 1949 off Malta RASed with HMS Gravelines (trough method) - training RAS - only 24 tons of FFO transferred

29 November 1949 sailed Malta to Sheerness

27 March 1950 sailed Gibraltar to Sheerness

20 April 1950 Captain H Murray-Clark, Royal Navy was appointed as Commanding Officer

October 1950 into reserve at the Gare Loch Scotland and used as Headquarters Ship, Reserve Fleet, Clyde Division

4 October 1955 arrived for breaking up at Dalmuir, Scotland.