SS Barøy ( 1929 ) SS " Barøy " was a 424 ton steel - hulled steamship delivered from the " Trondhjems mekaniske Værksted " shipyard in Trondheim in 1929 . She had been ordered by the Norwegian shipping company Ofotens Dampskibsselskab for the local route from the port city of Narvik to the smaller towns of Lødingen and Svolvær . After the company suffered ship losses in the 1940 Norwegian Campaign " Barøy " was put into Hurtigruten service on the Trondheim – Narvik route . She was sunk with heavy loss of life in a British air attack in the early hours of 13 September 1941 . Building and commissioning . " Barøy " was delivered by " Trondhjems mekaniske Værksted " to " Ofotens Dampskibsselskab " on 19 August 1929 . She was a typical North - Norwegian local transport , with an open weather deck and configured with two cargo holds , a First Class passenger section in the aft and a Third Class area in the bow . The First Class accommodation included 45 bunks , and the ship was certified to carry a total of 200 passengers . Pre - war years . Most of " Barøy " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s pre - war service was on the Narvik – Lødingen – Svolvær route for which she had been built , although she also acted as a reserve vessel for the Narvik – Trondheim express route . Second World War . The outbreak of the Second World War led to Norwegian government restrictions on the Hurtigruten from 1 October 1939 onwards , with a reduction in both sailing speed and the number of departures from Bergen , which was cut from seven to five a week . The restrictions followed a massive increase in shipping along the Norwegian coast in the autumn of 1939 as supplies were transported to ports all along the Norwegian coast in preparation for war . After massive protests from the coastal population daily departures were reintroduced on 5 December 1939 . In April 1940 many Hurtigruten ships were being refurbished before the summer season and reserve vessels were sailing the route . One of the reserve ships on the Hurtigruten service was " Barøy " , standing in for the 873 ton SS " Nordnorge " , which was undergoing maintenance work at " Trondhjems mekaniske Værksted " . " Barøy " had departed Bergen on 2 April , arrived at Trondheim on 4 April and was docked at Hammerfest in the northern county of Finnmark on 9 April 1940 . German occupation . After surviving the 9 April German invasion and the 62 day long Norwegian Campaign that followed it , " Barøy " was set to assist in the transportation of released German prisoners of war from the Norwegian prisoner of war camp on the island of Skorpa in Kvænangen , Troms . " Barøy " carried out the mission together with Finnmark Fylkesrederi ' s steamer " Tanahorn " , the latter carrying some 200 Germans to Tromsø and " Barøy " taking the remaining 260 to the same port city . " Barøy " continued serving in " Nordnorge " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s place during the German occupation of Norway , " Nordnorge " having been sunk by Royal Navy warships during the Norwegian Campaign after she had been pressed into service as a covert troopship by the invading German forces . " Barøy " was considered too small a vessel for the longer distances , such as the Hurtigruten route between Bergen and Narvik , and her prolonged service on the route was an emergency measure . Last voyage . A year and a half after the German invasion " Barøy " was still sailing the Hurtigruten route as the fifth weekly northbound departure from Trondheim to Narvik . In the early hours of 13 September 1941 she was on her way northwards , and had recently called at Skutvik on her way to Tranøy on Hamarøy . On board the ship was a crew of 26 , as well as 105 passengers , 37 of whom were German soldiers . The German troops on board were members of the 197th Infantry Division . Sinking . At 0350hrs on 13 September " Barøy " was struck by a torpedo some west of Tranøy Lighthouse , sinking within minutes . The torpedo ripped open the ship ' s hull , quickly flooding her with water , and immediately knocking out the electrical power on board . Due to the ship sinking so rapidly there was no time to lower the lifeboats , and the people on board had to jump into the water in order to survive . At the time of the sinking the water temperature was 7 – 8 °C . The torpedo that sank " Barøy " had been dropped by an 817 Squadron Fairey Albacore , one of seven that attacked shipping in the Vestfjorden area that morning . The Albacore crews also claimed to have sunk another vessel , of around 2 , 000 tons , in the same attack . The Fleet Air Arm aircraft came from the fleet carrier HMS " Victorious " , which was part of Force M which had escorted the old carrier HMS " Argus " , carrying 24 Hawker Hurricane fighters to the Soviet Union . On their way back to the UK the Albacores on board " Victorious " were assigned anti - shipping and bombing missions on the Norwegian coast and 12 aircraft took off at 0300hrs and flew east , navigating by moonlight . Seven of the Albacores belonged to 817 Squadron and carried torpedoes , the remaining five were 832 Squadron aircraft with bombs . While the 817 Squadron aircraft sank " Barøy " , the 832 Squadron bombed the hydroelectric power station in Glomfjord , the aluminium plant " Nordag " in Haugvik and the radio station at Røst . Two Norwegian civilians died at Glomfjord and one at Røst . No British aircraft were lost during the operation . At the time of the attack " Barøy " had been sailing with full lighting due to work being carried out on the deck cargo . The wreck of the ship rests at depth of around . The first ship to discover the sinking of " Barøy " was the 762 ton Norwegian cargo ship SS " Skjerstad " , which passed the scene of the sinking on her way southwards and rescued 19 survivors , as well as recovering 15 bodies . The survivors of the sinking were set ashore at Svolvær . Seventy - seven Norwegians died in the attack , including seven children and 21 women . Fifty - nine of the 68 Norwegian passengers were lost , while 18 of the 26 crew members died . Of the 37 German soldiers only two survived . Reactions to the attack . One of the consequences of the sinking of " Barøy " , together with the sinking of fellow Hurtigruten ship SS " Richard With " off Rolvsøy in Finnmark later the same day , was that the Hurtigruten ships would no longer sail further north than Tromsø . Between Tromsø and Hammerfest the route was taken over by smaller replacement ships . The Nazi regime in Norway used the attack on " Barøy " , together with other attacks on civilian Norwegian shipping , in propaganda against the Allies . On 20 May 1944 the Nazi - controlled Norwegian Postal Service issued a series of postage stamps commemorating three of the most infamous cases of Norwegian ships sunk by Allied attacks . " Barøy " was the subject of the 10 øre stamp , while SS " Sanct Svithun " and SS " Irma " were depicted on the 15 øre and 20 øre stamps respectively . The shipwreck stamps were designed by German - born Norwegian Nazi propaganda artist and war reporter Harald Damsleth .