King

In 1917–19, the British Royal Navy had 54 patrol boats built, all of which were named after villages beginning with “Kil”. Most were built by a shipyard in Middlesborough, the Smiths Dock Company. One of Smiths Dock’s builds was Kilgarvan, launched in 1918, which served until 1920. The ship was converted into a cargo ship and later ended up in Norway under the name “King”.

Kil-class ships were built for anti-submarine warfare and equipped with hydrophones and depth charges to effectively protect allied convoys during World War I. The vessels had a double-ended design (the bow and stern looked the same), so that the submarines’ crews would have trouble determining which way the ships were travelling. The ships were “dazzle-camouflaged” to further confuse anyone who saw them. Their war effort was marginal, since the war ended around the same time the ships entered service.

48 of the 54 completed ships were sold in 1919 and 1920 to shipyards that converted them into cargo ships. HMS Kilgarvan was renamed Heather King and in 1926 sold to Bröderna Lothe A/S in Haugesund, Norway, and renamed King. The Norwegian owners used the vessel for herring fishing, as a whaling vessel and as a cargo ship.

On 19 November 1941, King was on her way from Holtenau in Germany to Kalmar in ballast. Although the southerly wind was weak, visibility was limited. The poor visibility caused King’s captain to misjudge the distance to land, sending the ship aground at the southern part of Utklippan. At the time of the grounding, the ship sprung a leak. The captain requisitioned salvage assistance, and the salvage steamer Dan arrived on the scene.

Dan made several attempts to pull King off the rocks, to no avail. On 23 November, Dan left the site to sail to Karlskrona to bunker. On the same day, strong waves pushed King off the rocks. Attempts were made to tow the ship into shallower waters, but instead King sank some way off Utklippan. The crew was rescued. Today the ship is excellently preserved and lies at a depth of 38 metres.