View source for MV Norse Variant

{{Short description|Norwegian combined bulk and car carrier}}
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|Ship country= Norway
|Ship flag={{Shipboxflag|Norway|civil}}
|Ship name= ''Norse Variant''
|Ship owner=Odd Godager & Co.
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry=[[Oslo]], Norway
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|Ship builder=Uddevallavarvet AB, [[Uddevalla]], Sweden
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|Ship yard number=267
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|Ship launched=26 October 1964
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|Ship completed=March 1965
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|Ship identification=*{{IMO Number|6500222}}
*[[Call sign]]: LNFC 
|Ship fate=Sank, 22 March 1973
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|Header caption=<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sjohistorie.no/skip/n/Norse%20Variant?distrikt=None |title=M\S Norse Variant |first=Anstein Jarl |last=Nørsett |work=Sjøhistorisk database |year=2014 |accessdate=7 July 2014 |language=no |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924102641/http://www.sjohistorie.no/skip/n/Norse%20Variant?distrikt=None |archivedate=24 September 2015 }}</ref>
|Ship type=Combined bulk and car carrier
|Ship tonnage=*{{GT|13194}}
*{{NetT|7190}}
*{{DWT|20,842}}
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|Ship length= {{Convert|541|ft|6|in|abbr=on}} 
|Ship beam= {{Convert|70|ft|2|in|abbr=on}} 
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|Ship propulsion={{Convert|9000|bhp|0|abbr=on}} [[Burmeister & Wain|B&W]] 2SCSA 6-cylinder [[marine diesel engine]]
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'''MV ''Norse Variant''''' was a Norwegian combined bulk and car carrier, which sank off the coast of New Jersey during a storm on 22 March 1973.

==Ship history==
The ship was constructed by the Uddevallavarvet AB shipyard at [[Uddevalla]], Sweden, for Odd Godager & Co. of Oslo, and was delivered in March 1965. ''Norse Variant'' could carry 1,500 cars and sailed between [[Europe]], the US east and west coasts, and [[Japan]], with cars and bulk cargoes. She sailed from [[Newport News, Virginia|Newport News]] on 21 March 1973 with a cargo of coal bound for [[Glasgow]] and sank in a late winter storm the next day. The last radio message from the ship was received at 13:49 on 22 March. Of the crew of 30 only one man, the oiler Stein Gabrielsen, survived, having spent three days on rafts before being rescued by MT ''Mobile Lube''. The incident was caused after sailing into the center of an extreme weather event along with the Anita. During the storm, deck cargo was displaced by water and a hatch cover was broken. The ship suddenly took on a large amount of water and sank before any evacuation could be completed. According to researchers, the incident was caused by a rogue wave event,<ref>https://hal.science/hal-00000352/document {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref><ref>https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00716/82820/87642.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=August 2024}}</ref> which is also implicated in the loss of the Anita, which disappeared without a trace in the same storm. <ref name="Pazara">{{cite journal |url=http://www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2010/Constantza/MN/MN-02.pdf |journal=Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Maritime and Naval Science and Engineering |title=An analysis of the M/Vs Anita and Norse Variant distresses, in the Bermuda triangle |first1=Radu Hanzu |last1=Pazara |first2=Cioara Petrica |last2=Ionel |first3=Eugen |last3=Barsan |pages=21–24 |issn=1792-4707 |isbn=978-960-474-222-6 |date=2010 |accessdate=7 July 2014}}</ref>

Another Norwegian combined bulk and car carrier, MV ''Anita'', which passed [[Cape Henry]] only an hour after ''Norse Variant'', disappeared with its crew of 32. Nothing was ever found of this vessel.<ref name="Pazara"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |first=Øystein |last=Molstad-Andresen |title=Bare en kom tilbake |trans-title=Only one came back |publisher=Gyldendal Norsk forlag |location=Oslo |year=1973 |isbn=82-05-06065-7}}
* {{cite book |first=Dag |last=Bakka Jr. |title=De norske Uddevallaskipene |publisher=B. A. Krohn Johansen & Co. |location=Larvik |year=1986 |isbn=82-90528-04-3 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[World Book Encyclopedia|The World Book Year Book 1974]] |last=Stille |first=Darlene R. |title=Disasters |year=1974 |publisher=[[Field Enterprises|Field Enterprises Educational Corporation]] |location=[[Chicago]] |isbn=0-7166-0474-4 |lccn=62004818 |page=[https://archive.org/details/1974worldbookyea00fiel/page/293 293] |url=https://archive.org/details/1974worldbookyea00fiel/page/293 }}

{{1973 shipwrecks}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Norse Variant}}
[[Category:1964 ships]]
[[Category:Bulk carriers]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1973]]
[[Category:Merchant ships of Norway]]
[[Category:Ships built in Sweden]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the New Jersey coast]]