Ships details: The contract for its construction was concluded in 1939, and in August 1940 it was to be completed in Trondhjem/Central Norway as the HERLAUG. Due to the German occupation of Norway in April 1940, construction was stopped. The launch as a guard ship for the German Navy took place on May 27, 1941 as HEIMDAL, shortly afterwards the outfitting work was stopped.
In 1946 she was sold unfinished to Bodø and towed to Falkenberg/Sweden for overhaul. She was then towed to Risør in Norway, where she was completed in August 1948 and sold for 1.1 million crowns to the shipping company A/S Troms Fylkes Dampskipsselskap in Tromsø/Northern Norway, which now named BJARKHØY as a combined freight and passenger ferry, similar to Radio Carolines Fredericia in Denmark. In the 21 years of ferry operation, she ran aground four times and had to be repaired each time.
After the last grounding in 1968, Swiss business men Edwin Bollier and Erwin Meister (Mebo Ltd.) purchased the 124 foot 347 ton BJARKHØY on June 4, 1969. The vessel was converted into the MEBO I in Hamburg at the Böttcher & Gröning shipyard. The shipyard was supposed to convert her into a radio ship. After the ship was cut apart to install additional tanks, among other things, Meister and Bollier, probably 600,000 guilders poorer, realized that it was too small for the necessary installations. it was decided that a larger ship was required. The Mebo was then fitted out to become a supply tender for the new ship, the Mebo lI. After RNI’s closedown, the Mebo was drydocked and renamed ANGELA. In 1977 both the Angela and the Mebo II were sold to Libya. The Angela was renamed ALMASIRA in 1978. In 1984 both ships were used for target practice by the Libyan Navy. They sank in the Gulf of Sidra, Mediterranean Sea. [with many thanks to Bernhard Beck]
Planned offshore radio station: Radio Nordsee International in 1969/70
Planned location: International waters off Scheveningen (Netherlands)
