Seaman and Vessel Safety
The biggest threat to the vessels was the Axis submarines, although mines, surface raiders and bombing from aircraft were also much feared. The main countermeasure was convoying, large groups of merchant vessels, from 20 to 100, protected by naval ships. In 1940 the Norwegian vessels were unarmed, but slowly defensive measures like guns against surfaced submarines and low-flying aircraft were added. By the spring of 1945, around 1,700 men were registered as gunners on Norwegian vessels, and in addition there were some 900 British gunners.
The vessels also received degaussing against magnetic mines, and seamen were issued watertight survival suits if the ship had to be abandoned. An important part of security was strict secrecy regarding routes and destinations, as made famous in the slogan "Loose lips sinks ships".
Despite these and other measures losses were high: of a total of about 30,000 Norwegian seamen, 3,670 lost their lives as a result of the war at sea, together with 977 foreign crewmen. 706 ships were lost to enemy action.
Read more about this topic: Nortraship
Famous quotes containing the words seaman, vessel and/or safety:
“It is surely a matter of common observation that a man who knows no one thing intimately has no views worth hearing on things in general. The farmer philosophizes in terms of crops, soils, markets, and implements, the mechanic generalizes his experiences of wood and iron, the seaman reaches similar conclusions by his own special road; and if the scholar keeps pace with these it must be by an equally virile productivity.”
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“Love no man in good earnest, nor no further in sport
neither, than with safety of a pure blush thou mayst in
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—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)