Built as Swanley, 1932 renamed Hoperange, 1937 renamed Hird

From 9 until 28 May 1940, the Hird (Master Ansgar Fredhjem) had been at Dunkirk, endured continuous air attacks and then evacuated over 3500 Allied soldiers and civilians. The third mate, steward, carpenter and an able seaman in the only undamaged lifeboat rescued survivors from many other ships, which had been sunk during the evacuation. The ship then continued to Cherbourg with all the survivors, arriving on 30 May. The master was awarded the Krigskorset (War Cross, the highest Norwegian award) for his actions during this journey.
The Hird then proceeded to Cardiff to repair some bomb damages received in France and later to the USA.

At 06.05 hours on 15 Sep, 1940, the Hird (Master Ansgar M. Fredhjem), a straggler from convoy HX-70 due to a small fire on board on 10 September, was hit on the starboard side between the bridge and the forward mast by a stern torpedo from U-65 about 180 miles from Barra Head, Scotland. The U-boat had spotted the ship at 20.00 hours the day before and fired one torpedo at 21.18 hours that missed before the bow. This attack was noticed aboard the vessel and they tried to escape zigzagging at full speed, so it took the U-boat nine hours to get into firing position again. As the ship developed a heavy list, the crew abandoned ship in one lifeboat and a gig and signaled a nearby trawler to pick them up. The Germans observed how the survivors were rescued and that the ship sank at 08.30 hours. The Icelandic trawler Þórólfur landed the survivors at Fleetwood on 17 September.