SS WILFORD, Norwegian cargo steamship, from HMAS KANIMBLA, April 1940
Date1940
Object numberANMS0301[021]
NamePhotograph
MediumSilver gelatin print
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionIn April 1940 HMAS KANIMBLA intercepted and boarded any merchant ships of Norway and Denmark they came across off the coast of China, and redirected them to Hong Kong. This was in response to the German invasion of these previously neutral countries on 9 April 1940. It was an Allied priority to prevent the Danish and Norwegian merchant ships coming under the control of Germany. Here the Norwegian SS WILFORD is being intercepted off the mouth of the Yangtze River.HistoryHMAS KANIMBLA left Sydney for Hong Kong on 13 December 1939 where it was based through for the first half of 1940.
On 9 April 1940 Germany invaded and occupied Denmark and Norway. On the capitulation of their governments HMAS KANIMBLA was instructed to intercept their merchant ships in the coastal waters of China and send them them Hong Kong so they would come under Allied control. To this end HMAS KANIMBLA boarded ten Norwegian ships and one Danish ship off the mouth of the Yangtse River (near Shanghai).
In June 1940 HMAS KANIMBLA was reassigned to Singapore and en route visited Saigon in an unsuccessful attempt to convince the French warships there to join the Free French forces, the Germans having invaded and occupied France.
