HNoMS Thorodd  HNoMS "Thorodd was a Royal Norwegian Navy patrol ship and minesweeper that served through the Second World War, first during the Norwegian Campaign that followed the invasion of Norway in 1940, and then from exile in the United Kingdom. "Thorodd" was originally built as a steam escort trawler for the French Navy under the name Fleurus", before being sold to a Norwegian whaling firm who leased her to the Falkland Islands Government. SS "Fleurus" served as a commercial mail ship in the Falkland Islands Dependencies during the 1920s, and was the first vessel to carry paying tourists to Antarctica. Following the war, "Thorodd" was converted to a fishing trawler and sank in 1955. "Fleurus" was constructed by the Foundation Company of Savannah, Georgia as a steam escort trawler for the French Navy. She was delivered in 1919, after the end of the First World War, and remained in French service for only three years before being sold to "Huret Sauvetage" ("Huret Rescue") in Boulogne. In September 1924, she was again sold, this time to the Antarctic whaling firm A/S Tønsberg Hvalfangeri, based in Tønsberg, southern Norway. As built, "Fleurus" measured 406 gross register tons, with a steel hull and a triple-expansion steam engine. She was 140.1 feet LPP by 25.1 feet, with a draft of 13 feet. "Fleurus" was converted to carry mail and passengers, and then leased to the Falkland Islands Government, which used her as a mail ship in the Falkland Islands Dependencies, a scattered collection of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands. The "Fleurus" service included five voyages per year between Stanley and the whaling stations at Grytviken on South Georgia, and less frequent journeys to the South Orkney Islands and the South Shetland Islands, the bases for small groups of whalers and sealers. In addition, she carried mail and passengers from Stanley to Montevideo, Uruguay. In 1927, "Fleurus" carried Arnold Hodson, Governor of the Falkland Islands, to South Georgia, where the governor inspected the whaling stations and the Discovery Investigations. This was the first time a Governor had visited the Dependencies. The following year, "Fleurus" took Hodson on a month-long tour further south, visiting the Palmer Archipelago of Graham Land in Antarctica proper, as well as the South Shetlands and South Orkneys.