Built as a cargo vessel by the Odense Staalskibsvaerft, Odense, Denmark for account of A.F.Klaveness & Co. A/S at Lysaker near Oslo.
1930 Launched under the name ROSEVILLE.
Tonnage 5.745 gross, 9.265 dwt., dim. 426 x 59 x 28ft (draught)
Two diesel engines hp?, speed 13½ knots.
Passenger accommodation for 12 passengers.
The Klaveness company had cargo liner services between Portland-San Francisco-Los Angeles-Manilla-Kobe-Yokohama-Hongkong-Saigon-Singpore: New York-Far East: Far East Europe: Oslo US Gulf ports: UK to US, and was also tramping before World War II.
When World War broke out ROSEVILLE came under the management of Nortraship (The Norwegian Shipping and Trading Mission).
02 Nov. 1941, she departed with a full cargo,12 passengers and 22 cows in pens on deck from San Francisco bound for Hong Kong via Singapore.
On the night leading up to the 7 December 1941 Pearl Harbor attack she was not far from Honolulu when at 02.00 very narrowly avoided a collision with a Japanese aircraft carrier; in fact both ships passed so closely that the sides scraped and sparks were flying.
At 04.00 that morning submarines were spotted, and a ship in front and behind them were torpedoed and sunk. The ROSEVILLE escaped unharmed.
Later that day she received orders to proceed to Honolulu. Her cargo was discharged, and she stayed at that port until the end of January 1942.
She sailed from Honolulu in a convoy bound for San Francisco, after arrival she was converted to a troop transport vessel, with an accommodation for about 480 troops, and chartered by the US Army from the spring of 1942.
From March 1942 until July 1943 she made 4 trips between the USA and Australia.
During a voyage in 1943 she made calls at Tongatabu and Noumea, after sailing from the later during a dark night she narrowly avoided a collision when an other ship appeared on a opposite course. She lost some of her extra cork rafts alongside when the other ship passed. At that time the ROSEVILLE carried some ammunition and 800 troops. She returned to Noumea for small repairs before sailing to Townsville.
After World War II returned to owners.
July 1961 sold to Olaf Pedersen’s Rederi A/S, Oslo, renamed SUNNY LADY.
1964 Sold to the Time Lines (Panama) Ltd., Panama, renamed TYON.
She was broken up at Kaohsiung, where she arrived on 28 April 1971.
Norfolk Island 1990 80c sg490, scott486.
Sources: Register of Merchant Ships Completed in 1930. The World’s Merchant Fleets 1939 by Roger Jordan. Log Book. http://www.warsailors.com/materials/norfleetr.html