HSwMS Wachtmeisterwas the second and last of the Wrangel-classdestroyers built for the Royal Swedish Navy during World War I. Completed in 1918, the ship was rammed by another Swedish destroyer four years later. At the beginning of World War II in 1939 she was assigned to the Gothenburg Squadron. Wachtmeister was decommissioned in 1947 and was subsequently sold for scrap in 1950.
The Wrangels were powered by a pair of de Laval geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by four coal-fired Yarrow boilers. The turbines were designed to produce a total of 11,000 shaft horsepower (8,200kW), but actually produced 13,000shp (9,700kW) that gave them a maximum speed of 34 knots (63km/h; 39mph). The ships carried 105t (103 long tons; 116 short tons) of coal. The destroyers had a complement of 81 officers and ratings.[1][2]
The destroyers were armed with four 75-millimetre (3in) m/12 guns in single mounts. One gun was situated fore and aft of the superstructure and the other two were on the broadsideamidships.[1][2] They also mounted two 6.5mm (0.26in) M1914 machine guns. The torpedo armament of the Wrangel-class destroyers consisted of 457mm (18in) torpedoes fired from two twin-tube mounts located on the centreline aft of the funnels and one single tube on each broadside between the second and third funnels.[1][2]
Modifications
The boilers of the Wrangels were converted to use fuel oil in 1927. They were rearmed in 1940, adding one Bofors 25mm (1in) M32anti-aircraft gun and two 8mm (0.31in) M36 machine guns that replaced the 6.5mm weapons while having their two single torpedo-tube mounts removed.[3] In addition, two depth charge racks were added with 16 M/24 depth charges.[4] This increased their standard displacement to 498t (490 long tons).[2]
During an exercise on the evening of 8 June 1922, Wachtmeister was rammed just forward of the bridge by the destroyer HSwMSVidar. Three men aboard Vidar were seriously injured; one later died during transport to the hospital. 20m (66ft) of Wachtmeister's hull was damaged; three men were knocked into the water, but were quickly rescued. Vidar had to be towed into Bergkvara while Wachtmeister reached Karlskrona under her own power. Both destroyers were repaired and returned to service the following year.[5]
At the beginning of World War II, Wachtmeister was assigned to the Gothenburg Squadron.[9] During the winter of 1940–1941, the ship was re-boilered, but by late autumn 1943, she was put into material reserve in Stockholm. Wachtmeister was stricken from the navy list on 13 June 1947 and she was sold for scrap in 1950 to a company in Karlstad.[4]
Notes
↑ Whitley has the ships with a standard displacement of 472t (465 long tons), an overall length of 70.9m (232ft 7in) and a beam of 6.7m (22ft).[1]
Borgenstam, Curt; Insulander, Per & Kaudern, Gösta (1989). Jagare: med Svenska flottans jagare under 80 år[Destroyers: Swedish Navy Destroyers under 80 years] (in Swedish). Västra Frölunda: Marinlitteratur. ISBN91-970700-4-1. SELIBR7792227.
Hofsten, Gustaf von; Waernberg, Jan & Ohlsson, Curt S. (2003). Örlogsfartyg: svenska maskindrivna fartyg under tretungad flagg[Ships of War: Swedish Machine-powered Ships under the Triple-tailed Flag]. [Forum navales skriftserie, 1650-1837; 6] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Svenskt militärhistoriskt bibl. i samarbete med Marinlitteratur. ISBN91-974384-3-X. SELIBR8873330.
Insulander, Per & Ohlsson, Curt S (2001). Pansarskepp - Från John Ericsson till Gustav V[Armoured ships from John Ericsson to Gustav V] (in Swedish). Falkenberg: C B Marinlitteratur AB. ISBN978-9-19731-872-3.
Lagvall, Bertil (1991). Flottans neutralitetsvakt 1939-1945: krönika[Chronicle of the Fleet Neutrality Watch 1939-1945]. Marinlitteraturföreningen, 0348-2405; 71 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Marinlitteraturfören. ISBN91-85944-05-X. SELIBR7753511.
Steckzén, Birger, ed. (1949). Klart skepp: en bok om Sverigeskeppen Sverige, Gustaf V, Drottning Victoria[Clear Ship: A Book about the Ships Svierge, Gustaf V, Drottning Victoria] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt. SELIBR1417624.
Westerlund, Karl-Eric (1985). "Sweden". In Gray, Randal (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp.355–363. ISBN978-0-85177-245-5.
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HSwMS Mjölner was a coastal destroyer of the Royal Swedish Navy, built by Eriksbergs Mekaniska Verkstad and launched on 9 April 1942 as the last of the four ship Mode class. After serving during World War II, the ship was updated and reclassified a frigate in 1953. Decommissioned in 1966, Mjölner was sold for scrap in 1969.
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HSwMS Gävle was a destroyer of the Royal Swedish Navy that served during the Second World War and in the Cold War. The fifth member of the Göteborg or city class, which was designed as an improvement on the previous Ehrensköld class, Gävle was launched on 25 September 1940. The destroyer served in the Coastal Fleet during the war, protecting Swedish neutrality and assisting in the 1944 evacuation of Estonia. After the conflict had ceased, the ship was upgraded with enhanced fire control and an armament improved with the introduction of the Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun between 1950 and 1951. Ten years later, in 1961, Gävle was rearmed as a fast anti-submarine frigate and the torpedo tubes were replaced by Squid mortars. After being decommissioned on 6 December 1968, the vessel helped in the testing of the equipment for the Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant, finally being broken up in 1972.
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