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
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