Liberation Convoy: which vessels will take part?

The Herald Scotland

26-04-2025

Daniel Craig as James Bond (EON Productions/PA)
Known as the Shetland Bus, the operation saw more than 200 crossings in which special agents and weapons were delivered to occupied Norway's resistance fighters, and refugees and escaping soldiers brought back.
While behind the scenes, plots were hatched to create resistance groups who could sabotage enemy communications and infrastructure, lay mines and carry out raids on enemy bases.
With Shetland Bus boats secretly operating between Shetland and Norway and heavily armed Norwegian Motor Torpedo Boats based at Lerwick, James Bond creator Commander Fleming of Combined Operations, was tasked with laying down plans for daring resistance and sabotage operations that would damage the occupying forces.
From November 1942 to May 1945, the Norwegian MTBs carried out 161 missions along the Norwegian coast, from Trondheim in the north to Kristiansand in the south.
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During the war, they sank a total of 27 ships, including seven warships.
To mark the courageous contribution of the Shetland Bus and other Norwegian vessels to the war, a Liberation Convoy of vessels is set to make its way to Lerwick from Norway, arriving in time for the 80th anniversary of VE Day events.
Once there, they will open their decks to visitors before heading off on individual journeys to sites linked to the Shetland Bus and Norwegian maritime contribution.
Liberation Convoy: which vessels will take part?
Alongside four boats which each played a role in the Shetland Bus missions, will be a large merchant ship which ferried vital fuel supplies from Norway to Britain – crucial for loading war planes like Spitfires and Lancaster bombers.
The 60-metre cargo ship S/S Hestmanden saw action in both the First and Second World Wars.
S/S Hestmanden is the largest vessel taking part in the Liberation Convoy to Shetland (Image: Hilfred Mikalsen)
Built in 1911, it ran a coastal freight route until the Second World War.
During the Great War, it transported coal between Norway and Britain.
By April 1940 and with German soldiers occupying neutral Norway, it was called into the state-owned shipping company Nortraship's large fleet of around 1,000 ships, to help deliver supplies and fuels to the Allies.
Now the only remaining Nortraship fleet vessel, it has been lovingly restored, with its original steam boiler and equipment intact, to become a floating museum honour war sailors.
During its visit to Lerwick, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, it will be open to the public to view exhibitions and items related to its war service.
Among the fishing boats in the flotilla will be M/K Heland, built in 1937 as a year-round fishing boat catching herring, cod and, in summer, whales.
M/K Heland approaches Scalloway Harbour (Image: Liberation Convoy)
It began covert operations in 1941 working with a Norwegian resistance group to take agents and weapons between Shetland and Sunnmøre.
One of its several trips across the North Sea saw it carry 23 refugees to safety.
It is due to visit Lunna, Unst and Scalloway.
Also featuring in the flotilla will be M/K Andholmen, just two years old when it came under Norwegian naval command.
M/K Andholmen features on a memorial sculpture in Scalloway harbour (Image: Liberation Convoy)
It played a part in a major operation to deliver hundreds of Allied soldiers to Norway in response to the German occupation.
It was later based in Buckie as a patrol vessel and then in Peterhead where a secret Norwegian base had been established to co-ordinate daring raids to the west coast of Norway.
After the war it was abandoned and left to rot before being restored and turned into floating museum manned by a volunteer crew.
It will spend five days in Lerwick before taking visiting Lunna, Scalloway and Kirkwall.
Constructed in 1907, MK Erkna is the oldest vessel in the Liberation Convoy.
MK Erkna carried 60 refugees to safety from Norway. (Image: Liberation Convoy)
At one point it was seized by the German Kriegsmarine but was stolen back by the resistance movement.
On one secret mission, the Erkna carried 60 Norwegian refugees – the largest number to be carried in a single Shetland Bus voyage.
Having completed four trips, she was considered too easy to spot and was instead used as a 'travalry boat' carrying crew from Greenock to the warships.
After events in Lerwick, it will spend around a week in Kirkwall before heading to Aberdeen and later Edinburgh.
One of the Liberation Convoy's more unusual vessels is M/B Arnefjord.
M/B Arnefjord survived horrific weather conditions during one Shetland Bus operation (Image: Liberation Convoy)
Built in 1917 it worked as an 'agent boat' fitted with fine leather and mahogany interiors for transporting businessmen, priests and various organisations around Norway's many coastal settlements.
It was initially commandeered by German occupiers to ferry their soldiers.
But a resistance group secretly worked with the boat's owner, Markus Nese, and seized her back for their secret voyages.
It survived horrific conditions when, during a raging storm and with around 20 refugees fleeing Norway on board, the hurricane style winds almost ripped the wheelhouse from its base.
Its owner, meanwhile, faced Gestapo interrogation and prison.
After the war, he reclaimed the vessel and it returned to its previous and far less dangerous role, delivering people, post and groceries.
Find out more about the Liberation Convoy boats here