H.M Hjälpkryssare Warun (1942), Torpedo cargo

LelutooDS · February 27, 2026, 9:41pm

H.M Hjälpkryssare Warun

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H.M Hjälpkryssare Warun, was a cargo ship knows as M/S Warun belonging to the Sveabolaget shipping company that was called in to serve with the Swedish navy as an auxiliary cruiser in 1939 in response to the Soviet invasion of Finland. She finished the cruiser conversion at the Finnboda ship yard in 1940 under the number 5 and served along with her sister Waria as well as another auxiliary cruiser Wiros, mainly escorting ships from the mainland to Gotland and back. When the war ended in 1945 she was stripped of her wartime weaponry sent back to Sveabolaget to continue her original purpose as a cargo ship. She served for many years in Swedish hands until an accident in 1956 that resulted in a sale to Greece after repairs, she was later scrapped in Italy in the 1980’s.

History

In the late 1930’s the shipping company Sveabolaget built a number of cargo ships to handle transport around the baltic. As a result in 1935, M/S Warun was built along with her sistership M/S Waria (though Waria was built in 1938) to preform the aforementioned tasks. Unfortunely in 1939, the USSR’s decision to invade Finland led Warun and Waria, along with a large number of other ships, to be called in by the Swedish government to serve with the navy as the lack of available ships had left the country vulnerable. Warun was picked to be converted into an auxiliary cruiser at the Finnboda shipyard. Equipped with various guns, she was finished in 1940 and joined the navy as a cruiser. Her 12 cm Kan m/94C cannons were taken from the late monitors Sölve and Folke and her and her 57mm ssk m/89B cannons taken from the coastal defense ship Äran. She also, unlike her sister, received a rotatable twin 45,7 cm torpedo tube on her deck.

In her original form, a cargo ship with icebreaking capabilities.

When she entered service in early 1940, she joined her sister Waria as well as the auxiliary cruiser Wiros in patrolling Swedish waters and escorting ships from mainland Sweden to the island of Gotland. In 1941 she received an upgrade in her weaponry, receiving two more 8mm lvksp m/36. In 1942 she also received two 20mm Lvakan m/40 as well as having her 57mm ssk m/98B switched for 40mm Lvakan m/36.

Her wartime appearance, an older veddette boat in front.

Fully upgraded she retained this loadout into 1944 where she and her sister Waria were transfered to the Norrland Department up north and served there until 1945. In the October of 1945 she was sent back to Sveabolaget to resume her shipping duties. She served well in the civilian sector until 1956 where she ran aground and caught on fire, when they towed her loose and repaired the damaged equipment, she was sold to Greece where she received the name Aristides, later to be changed Riverside. She served in Greece until 1980 where she was stopped by the Italian customs under suspicions of smuggling, she was then taken by the government and stored in a port in Salerno, Italy, where she spent the rest of her days. Her fate after that is unknown but she was most likely scrapped.

Armament and stats

(From her 1942 configuration)

Length: 67,2 Meters
Width: 10,9 Meters
Draught: 4,6 Meters
Deplacement: 805 Tons
Speed: 11 - 12 Knots (All thanks to a Kockums MAN-Diesel engine delivering 1040 HP.)
Crew: 68 Men

Main armament: 2 x 12cm Kan m/94C, one aft one forward. They could fire around 10 shells a minute over a range of around 9 Km’s.

12 cm cannon’s available shells:
A 21 kg SAPBC shell, 880 grams of filler, 740 m/s.
A 22,5 kg APHE shell, 725 m/s with 1,63 kg filler.

Anti air armament: 2 x 40mm Lvakan m/36, 2 x 20mm Lvakan m/40, 4 x 8mm Lvksp m/36.

Additional armament: 2 x 45,7 cm Torpedtub m/15 (One twin torpedo tube setup on the cargo door forward of the bridge and behind the forward turret), 2 x Sjbk m/33, 6 x Sjbf typ C, she could also carry and drop up to 92 mines.

Photos

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