HNoMS Tordenskjold

Last updated

Tordenskjold.jpg
Tordenskjold in 1900
History
Flag of Norway, state.svgNorway
NameTordenskjold
Namesake Peter Tordenskjold
Ordered1896
Laid down1897
Launched18 March 1897
Commissioned21 March 1898
Capturedby the Germans in 1940
War ensign of Germany (1938-1945).svg Nazi Germany
NameNymphe
Acquired1940
FateHanded back to Norway after VE Day
Flag of Norway, state.svgNorway
NameTordenskjold
Acquired1945
FateScrapped 1948
General characteristics as built
Class & type Tordenskjold-class coastal defence ship
Displacement3,858 long tons (3,920 t)
Length92.66 m (304 ft 0 in)
Beam14.78 m (48 ft 6 in)
Draught5.38 m (17 ft 8 in)
PropulsionCoal-fired reciprocating steam engines, 4,500 hp (3,356 kW)
Speed16.9 knots (31.3 km/h; 19.4 mph)
Complement245
Armament
  • 2 × 21 cm (8 in)/45 guns
  • 6 × 12 cm (5 in)/45 guns
  • 6 × 7.6 cm (3 in)/40 guns
  • 6 × 1-pounder QF guns
  • 2 × 45 cm (18 in) submerged torpedo tubes
Armour
General characteristics after German rebuild
Displacement3,858 long tons (3,920 t)
Length92.66 m (304 ft 0 in)
Beam14.78 m (48 ft 6 in)
Draught5.38 m (17 ft 8 in)
PropulsionCoal-fired reciprocating steam engines, 4,500 hp (3,356 kW)
Speed16.9 knots (31.3 km/h; 19.4 mph)
Complement245
Armament
Armour

HNoMS Tordenskjold, known locally as Panserskipet Tordenskjold, was a Norwegian coastal defence ship. She, her sister ship, Harald Haarfagre, and the slightly newer Eidsvold class were built as a part of the general rearmament in the time leading up to the events in 1905. Tordenskjold remained an important vessel in the Royal Norwegian Navy until she was considered unfit for war in the mid-1930s.

Contents

Description

Models of the coastal defence ship Tordenskiold and Eidsvold. Tordenskjold in the front. HNoMS Eidsvold and HNoMS Tordenskiold (models).png
Models of the coastal defence ship Tordenskiold and Eidsvold. Tordenskjold in the front.

Built at Elswick [2] and nearly identical to her sister ship Harald Haarfagre, Tordenskjold was named after Peter Wessel Tordenskjold, an eminent Norwegian naval hero in the service of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway. Built as a typical pre-dreadnought battleship on a small scale, she carried guns of a wide range of calibers: two 8.2-inch (210 mm) guns in barbettes, six 4.7-inch (120 mm), six 3-inch (76 mm), and six smaller quick-firing guns. The ship could manage a speed of over 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Protected by belt armor of 7 inches (180 mm) thickness, the ship also featured gun barbettes with nearly 8 inches (200 mm) of steel armor and an armored deck. [3]

Service history and fate

A vital part of the Royal Norwegian Navy, Tordenskjold performed ordinary duties until 1918, when she was turned into a cadet ship. She performed well in this role, carrying out eighteen training cruises until considered "unfit for war" in the mid-1930s. After the German invasion of Norway, she was seized by the Germans and rebuilt as a floating flak battery with 10.5 cm AA guns and renamed Nymphe. In May, 1945 she was damaged by RAF aircraft at Svolvaer and beached. She was refloated later in the year. After the war Tordenskjold was used briefly as a floating barracks. On 17th of May 1945, while Norwegians celebrated their National Day, the ship had docked at Svolvaer to transport close to 500 germans in the area to a camp in Bogen outside Narvik. The ship hit a big rock below the surface outside the Island Lille-Molla, where the german captain Alfred Kemerer made the decision to run the ship aground. Rumors of alcohol and sabotage led to an big argument between Norwegian and German marine leaders.

The ship stayed on Lille-Molla until she was sold for scrapping in 1948.

In German service as a flakship in 1940, renamed Nymphe. Nymphe Norwegian harbour.jpg
In German service as a flakship in 1940, renamed Nymphe.

It was intended to augment the Norwegian coastal defence ship fleet with the two ships of the Bjørgvin-class, ordered in 1912, but after these were confiscated by the Royal Navy at the outbreak of World War I the Tordenskjold class and the slightly newer, two ship Eidsvold class were forced to soldier on long after they were obsolete.

Today

Today the name KNM Tordenskjold is used on the Norwegian Naval Training Establishment (NORNAVTRAINEST) at Haakonsvern, Bergen.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Abelsen, Frank (1986). Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945 (in Norwegian and English). Oslo: Sem & Stenersen AS. p. 290. ISBN   82-7046-050-8.
  2. ↑ Keltie, J.S., ed. (1900). The Statesman's Year Book: Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1900. New York: MacMillan. p. 1066.
  3. ↑ Keltie 1900, p. 1066.

Bibliography

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