Stig Egede-Nissen

On board Wensleydale at around this period was the Norwgian, Stig Egede-Nissen, who's job was to intercept German radio traffic. The following article is produced courtesy of his son Hans:

Stig Egede-Nissen was born at the 11th of Dec 1907. He studied medicine at first, something he had to give up since he became ill at the sight of seeing blood. Up till -35 he studied at the Norwegian High School of Technology in Trondheim, playing amateur theatre more than he really studied (according to the familiy tradition). From 1935 till -38 he was at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, studying to become an actor, as with six of hissiblings. Coming back to Norway in -38, he started acting first in Trondheim, then in Oslo until the German occupation in April 1940. There was a spontaneous strike at the theatres, the actors refusing to play for the Germans, and the Gestapo arrested some twelve of them. Dad was not amongst them, but he offered to take the place of a colleague with a family and this was accepted. After that he became involved in the resistance movement, the Germans were on his track when he managed to escape to Sweden where he arrived in Stockholm at the 3rd of October 1942. Due to his knowledge of language (his English and German were fluent), he was lent to the British Navy.

LEFT: Stig Egede-Nissen, aged 32.

I am not sure, but I think he came directly onboard the Wensleydale, where his job were to snatch messages between German vessels and Germany. He translated the messages, sending them up to the bridge. He acted as information officer and got the rank of lieutenant. I don't know the date he left Wensleydale, but I had the notion that he were on board during the D-day. (Could that be correct?) During the last months of the war, he took part in the commando "Polar Bear", whose mission was to neutralize Norwegian harbours and installations against the destructions planned by the Germans when capitalizing. He was trained at a camp in England, and I think I remember him telling that his instructor was his fellow Norwegian Jan Baalsrud, whose story was told in the Oscar-nominated movie: "Nine lives". His time at the Wensleydale was interrupted by casting for a movie, "Return of the Vikings", which were about the Norwegian whaler's contributions during the war, in the navy as well as in the other arms. "It was wonderful to have a break from the life at the destroyer," he uttered in an interview in 1951. His brother Adam told: In October 1944 we met in London, not having seen each other in several years. We sat together one night at a hotel room, drinking whisky listening to the V2-bombers roaming over London. To him this was an everyday experience, to me it was quite a new and frightening one. The next morning he were in for a new mission. During the last part of the war, he was sent home to contribute to neutralize a part of the Oslo harbour in case of occupation during the liberation process [that's another version...] he wore disguise, in his rucksack he carried ammunition. He was tough and had good nerves. Being stopped by a German guard patrolling once, he was asked what he was carrying in that rucksack of his. "Sprengstoff," he replied with a grin, and was let go, believed to be joking! After the war, I know dad was decorated with the St.Olaf medal with oak branch, so I am quite proud of him. (Hans Egede-Nissen)

In September 1944 Wensleydale was transferred to the 21st Destroyer Flotilla based at Sheerness. For convoy defence and patrol duties in The Channel and North Sea.