Henry Diesen

Who was Henry Diesen?

Henry Edward Diesen was a Norwegian naval officer.

He was born in Trondhjem as a son of telegrapher Edward Diesen and Johanne Christophine Stenersen. He was a first cousin of Emil Diesen and Andreas Melchior Seip Diesen, and a first cousin once removed of Andreas’s son Ernst Diesen.

He was a naval officer from 1903, graduated from the Norwegian Naval Academy in 1905 and was promoted to Premier Lieutenant in 1906. He worked in the merchant fleet from 1906 to 1908 and 1909 to 1911. From 1912 to 1913 he studied at the Berlin Institute of Technology. He served in the neutral Royal Norwegian Navy during World War I, and was promoted to Captain in 1917. His last service on a ship was as second-in-command of HNoMS Tordenskjold in 1929.

He lived in Borre near Karljohansvern. Here he edited the newspaper Hortens Avis from 1919 to 1920 and was a member of the executive committee of Borre municipal council from 1920 to 1923. Since November 1907 he was married to Caroline Elisabeth Fretheim.

From 1930 to 1936 Diesen was the second-in-command at the Navy Mining School. He was promoted to Commander in 1936.