H.M Hjälpkryssare Wiros (1941), Enemy of the seagulls.

LelutooDS · March 4, 2026, 2:07am

H.M Hjälpkryssare Wiros

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H.M Hjälpkryssare Wiros was a cargo ship turned auxiliary cruiser for the Swedish navy during ww2. Originally built as M/S Wiros for the shipping company Sveabolaget in 1937, she was quickly requisitioned by the Swedish navy in 1939 due to the Soviet invasion of Finland and rebuilt as a lightly armed warship. From 1940 she served in navy as a cruiser, mainly preforming escorting duties between the mainland and Gotland until the end of the war, seeing only light action during her time as a war ship. She was handed back to Sveabolaget in 1945 and stripped of her weaponry, returning to civilian duties. She would be sold off to a multitude of countries before sinking in 1969, being brought up and scrapped in 1983.

History

In the late 1930’s, the Swedish shipping company Sveabolaget ordered a few new cargo ships to handle cargo around the Baltic sea, among these ships were the sisters Waria, Warun and Wiros (Often referred to as the W ships). These sisters would all end up seeing service with the Swedish navy as auxiliary cruisers, escorting and sweeping mines in the archipelago. One of these ships, M/S Wiros, was built in 1937 to handle shipping in the Stockholm archipelago with her sisters. However by 1939 M/S Wiros along with Waria and Warun would be requisitioned by the Swedish navy in relation to the Soviet invasion of Finland due to the lack of available warships in the Swedish navy at the time. M/S Wiros would be modified at the Gävle shipyard, originally planned to be made into a command ship, however she was upgraded to a cruiser classification and rebuilt. Her weaponry was not new, being taken off decommissioned old warships. Her two 12cm m/94C cannons were taken from the old coastal defense ship H.M Pansarbåt Niord, the two 57mm’s were also pre-owned though its unclear from who.

As rebuilt into an auxiliary cruiser.

Delivered to the navy in 1940 under her new name H.M Hjälpkryssare Wiros carrying the pennant number H14, she joined her sisters in the archipelago to escort merchant ships traveling from mainland Sweden to Gotland and back due to the numerous submarine sightings and torpedo attacks on civilian ships. This did help, though Wiros combat effectiveness was limited. In 1941 her AA capabilities were improved, upgrading her two single mount 8mm machineguns into twin mounts, thereby doubling the amount of machineguns onboard. In 1942 she was upgraded once more replacing her 57mm cannons into 40mm Bofors instead, this was not to be however as they were switched back for the 57mm’s once more the same year. In 1943, HM Wiros reported engaging an aircraft flying overhead while stationed in the southern archipelago, however one of the 57mm shells hit a seagull above and detonated, exploding closely above the ship and injuring the crew. In 1944 HM Wiros was transferred to the northern marine sector and stayed north until the end of the war in 1945.
Post war she was handed back to Sveabolaget and stripped of all her military gear, she continued in the Swedish civilian sector until she was sold to West Germany in 1959 where she continued on. Wiros would be sold yet again to Canada where she would run aground and sink in 1969, being brought up and scrapped in 1983.

Armament and stats

Length: 68,5 Meters
Width: 10,8 Meters
Draught: 3,7 Meters
Deplacement: 852 Tons
Crew: 68 Men
Speed: 12 Knots (All thanks to a 1230 HP Atlas Polar engine.)

Main armament: 2 x 12cm Kan m/94C, both forward of the bridge. They could fire around 10 shells per minute over a range of around 9 km.

12 cm cannon’s available shells:
21 kg HE shell with 1.26kg of filler.
21 kg SAP and SAPBC shell with 504 grams of filler.
21 kg Shrapnel shell with 210 grams of filler.
All had a velocity of 740 m/s

Secondary armament: 2 x 57mm Lvkan m/38 (57mm Ssk m/89B in AA mounts), on each side of a raised platform at the aft. They could fire around 35 shells per minute and had a range of around 5km.

57 mm cannon’s available shells:
2,7 kg APHE (Steel) shell with 97 grams of filler.
2,7 kg APHE (Iron) shell with 72 grams of filler.
2,7kg HE shell with 330 grams of filler.
All had a velocity of 704 m/s

AA armament: 4 x 8mm lvksp m/36, two twin mounts.

Additional armament: 2 x depth charge droppers (unspecified though most likely m/24A’s) and up to 28 mines.

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