HSwMS Gotland was an aircraft cruiser built for the Royal Swedish Navy during the 1930s. Completed in 1934, she was assigned to the Coastal Fleet and also served as a training ship for naval cadets in foreign waters until the beginning of World War II in 1939. During the war the ship conducted neutrality patrols and continued to serve as a training ship. Gotland was converted into an anti-aircraft cruiser in 1943–1944 as her floatplanes were obsolete and modern replacements could not be purchased. After the war ended in 1945, she became a dedicated training ship and resumed making lengthy foreign cruises with cadets.
HSwMS Clas Fleming was a cruiser-minelayer built before World War I for the Royal Swedish Navy. Completed in 1914, the ship performed limited neutrality patrols in the Sea of Åland and the northern reaches of the Stockholm Archipelago during the war. She was placed in reserve in 1917 to be modified to make laying mines safer and remained in that status until the beginning of World War II in 1939 to save money. Clas Fleming was activated for a short time that year to lay defensive minefields before she began a reconstruction that installed an early version of gas turbines, the first warship in the world to be so equipped. After her sea trials were completed in 1940, she was on active service for the rest of the war. Clas Fleming was again reduced to reserve at that time and did not leave the dockyard before she was stricken from the navy list in 1959. The ship briefly served as a target ship before being sold for scrap the following year.
HSwMS Sjölejonet was the lead ship of a class of nine naval submarines in the service of the Swedish Navy from just before World War II into the early Cold War. The submarines were ordered in response to the rising German threat to the south in the interwar period. Sjölejonet remained in service until 1959 and was sold for scrap in 1962.
Gangut was an Imperial Russian coast defense ship named after the Battle of Gangut. This ship was a scaled-down version of the Imperator Aleksandr II-class battleships.
HSwMS Sverige was a Sverige-class coastal defence ship (Pansarskepp) commissioned by Sweden during the last year of the First World War. The ship cost approximately 12 million kronor, a sum raised entirely by public donations. The fundraising was done because of the Karl Staaff government's reluctance to spend money on a new battleship. In addition to its impressive cost, the ship also had a significant impact on the Swedish Navy and its capabilities.
The French ironclad Couronne ("Crown") was the first iron-hulled ironclad warship built for the French Navy in 1859–1862. She was the first such ship to be laid down, although the British armoured frigate HMS Warrior was completed first. The ship participated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, but saw no combat. She was served as a gunnery training ship from 1885 to 1908 before she was hulked the following year and became a barracks ship in Toulon. Couronne was scrapped in 1934, over 70 years after she was completed.
The Oden class was a class of coastal defence ships of the Swedish Navy. The class comprised Oden, Niord and Thor.
HSwMS Claes Uggla was a Örnen-class torpedo cruiser built for the Swedish Navy during the 1890s, named after the 17th-century admiral Claes Uggla. The ship's name is spelled as Clas Uggla in some English-language sources. She ran aground and sank on 22 June 1917.
Jeanne d'Arc was an armoured cruiser built for the French Navy at the end of the 19th century, the sole ship of her class. Completed in 1903, she was initially assigned to the Northern Squadron, although she was transferred to the reserve fleet before the end of the year. The ship was recommissioned for a few months in mid-1905 and was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in mid-1906 and served as a flagship for the next several years. Jeanne d'Arc was assigned to the reserve in mid-1908 and modified to serve as a training ship for naval cadets of the Naval Academy. In 1912, she made the first of two lengthy training cruises.
The French ironclad Invincible was the second of the three wooden-hulled Gloire-class ironclads built for the French Navy in 1858–1862. The ships of the Gloire class were classified as armoured frigates because they only had a single gun deck and their traditional disposition of guns arrayed along the length of the hull also meant that they were broadside ironclads. Invincible had an uneventful career and was deployed in North American waters during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. The unseasoned timber of her hull rotted quickly and she was condemned in 1872 and scrapped in 1876.
The French ironclad Normandie was the third and last of the three wooden-hulled Gloire-class ironclads built for the French Navy in 1858–62. The ships of the Gloire class were classified as armoured frigates because they only had a single gun deck and their traditional disposition of guns arrayed along the length of the hull also meant that they were broadside ironclads. Normandie was the first ironclad to cross the Atlantic in support of the French intervention in Mexico in 1862. Although the ship was active during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, she saw no action. The unseasoned timber of her hull rotted quickly; she was condemned in 1871 and subsequently scrapped.
HSwMS Sölve is one of seven Hildur-class monitors built for the Swedish Navy in the mid-1870s. The ship had an uneventful career and was sold in 1919 for conversion into a barge. She became a museum ship in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1992.
Henri IV was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy built to test some of the ideas of the prominent naval architect Louis-Émile Bertin. She began World War I as guardship at Bizerte. She was sent to reinforce the Allied naval force in the Dardanelles campaign of 1915, although some of her secondary armament had been removed for transfer to Serbia in 1914. Afterwards, she was relegated to second-line roles before being sent to Taranto as a depot ship in 1918. She was struck from the navy list in 1920 and scrapped the following year.
The French ironclad Alma was a wooden-hulled armored corvette built for the French Navy in the late 1860s. The lead ship of her class, she was named after the 1854 Battle of Alma of the Crimean War. The ship spent her early career on the China Station and later supported the French occupation of Tunisia in 1881. She was condemned in 1886, but was not sold until 1893.
The John Ericsson-class monitors were a group of five iron-hulled monitors; four were built for the Royal Swedish Navy and one for the Royal Norwegian Navy in the mid to late 1860s. They were designed under the supervision of the Swedish-born inventor, John Ericsson, and built in Sweden. Generally, the monitors were kept in reserve for the majority of the year and were only commissioned for several during the year. The ships made one foreign visit to Russia in 1867 but remained in Swedish or Norwegian waters for the rest of their careers. Two of the monitors, Thordon and Mjølner, ran aground, but were salvaged and repaired. Most of the monitors were reconstructed between 1892 and 1905 with more modern guns, but one was scrapped instead as it was not thought cost-effective to rebuild such an old ship. The surviving ships were mobilized during World War I and sold for scrap afterwards.
HNoMS Mjølner, named after the hammer of the god Thor, was the fourth of five ships of the John Ericsson-class monitors built for the Royal Swedish Navy and the Royal Norwegian Navy in the mid-1860s. Influenced by the use of ironclads during the American Civil War, the design was based on that of USS Monitor. They were designed under the supervision of the Swedish-born inventor John Ericsson—coincidentally designer of Monitor—and built in Sweden. Mjølner was delivered in 1868. She ran aground the following year, without serious damage, and reconstructed in 1897 with later breech-loading guns. Mjølner was sold for scrap in 1909.
HSwMS Sköld was a small river monitor built for the Swedish Royal Skerry Artillery in the late 1860s. She was equipped with a dual propulsion system, both hand and steam-driven, although the hand-driven portion was removed early in the ship's career due to complaints from the crew. The ship was put into reserve in 1890 and used as a gunnery target in 1907.
German submarine U-632 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 4 September 1941 at the Blohm & Voss yard at Hamburg, launched on 27 May 1942, and commissioned on 23 July 1942 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Hans Karpf.
German submarine U-361 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
HSwMS Fenris was a monitor that served with the Swedish Navy from 1872 to 1903. She was an experimental small coastal defense monitor and while not seen as a success, experience gained in her development was used in the later Sölve class of monitors. Despite being of the John Ericsson class, she was closest in design to HSwMS Garmer.
Sweden