Birger Lunde, an officer in the Norwegian merchant marine who had three vessels shot from under him by German submarines during World War II, died Sept. 24 in the Norwegian Christian Home in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. He was 82 and lived in Great Kills on Staten Island.

The cause was heart failure, said his son, John, of Washington, N.J.

Captain Lunde was born in Fana, Norway, and served in the Norwegian merchant marine throughout the war. In recognition of his service, he was awarded the St. Olaf medal with oak leaves, a Norwegian honor for bravery, by King Haakon VII of Norway in London, where a Norwegian exile government had its headquarters during the Nazi occupation.

After the war's outbreak, Norway tried to stay neutral, but Germany invaded in 1940 and soon occupied almost the whole country. Nonetheless, cargo vessels of the Norwegian merchant fleet aided the Allies throughout the war, and many Norwegian ships were sunk by the Germans.

A memoir written by Captain Lunde and interviews with his son and with the captain's brother, Kaare Lunde of Fana gave this account of the sinkings the captain survived:

In May 1941 he was a second mate and radio operator on the Taranger, a cargo vessel, 250 miles off Iceland, as he put it, ''travelling to America to get a 5-inch gun installed when a U-Boat surfaced at night and shelled us until the ship literally fell apart.''