H.M Jagare Öland of the Öland class
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H.M Jagare Öland was a Swedish destroyer of the Öland class and the first of the “Landskapsjagare” type. Built by Kockums in Malmö in 1945, she was delivered to the Swedish navy in 1947 wearing the number (16). She served for a long time and was reclassified as a frigate in 1974, she remained like that until she was put out of service in 1978.
History and related info
The story begins in 1942, the Swedish destroyers being constructed were quite small and light while the worlds navies were going for larger and heavier designs. The Swedish took note of this and decided that the next destroyers were to follow a similar route, larger and fiercer destroyers, something that would follow the Tre Kronor class of cruisers currently being planned into battle. With this decision they started planning what would become the Öland class. They originally wanted four ships to be constructed, however only two would end up being built, the Öland (16) and Uppland (17) built by Kockums and Karlskronavarvet respectively, this was due to the Götaverken shipyard that they wanted was already busy with the Tre Kronor class cruisers.
H.M Jagare Öland, still using H.M Jagare, this would end up being the last class to use it.
Delivered to the Swedish navy in 1947, she unfortunately missed out on the war but got to enjoy what would be the cold war. She was by far the largest and heaviest destroyer in the Swedish navy at the time, weighing almost twice the previous class with 2250 tons at most, the previous Visby class only weighed 1320 maximum. She also was way better equipped both in terms of main armament and Anti-air. Though keeping the same caliber of cannons (12cm), she carried four instead of the usual three and they were of the newer type M/44 made by Bofors in 1942. Thanks to a semi automatic system, they were able to fire 20 rounds in one minute each, that’s 80 shells in one minute! The anti air was also impressive with it having 7 x 40mm and 8 x 20mm cannons with two fine 8mm machine guns to top it off.
Quite a nice looking ship!
Her service life was, as for most Swedish ships, not very exiting. Though she was one tough ship, there was no longer any war and as such she mainly just sailed in the calm Swedish waters. She did however follow on a long trip to other countries in 1961, unfortunately she was quite expensive to run and as such returned home to Sweden quicker than planned, returning to her duties there. She remained a solid destroyer until 1974 where she was reclassified as a frigate and modified. In the end she was put out of service in 1978, ending a long career of sailing the peaceful Swedish coast.
Armament and stats
Length: 111.8 meters
Width: 11.2 meters
Draft: 3.4 meters
Displacement: 1880 / 2250 tons
Maximum speed: 35 knots
Crew: 231
The main armament consisted of four 12cm cannons in two twin turrets, they had a firing rate of 20 shots a minute and could fire 52 lbs HE shells.
The Anti aircraft armament consisted of seven 40mm Bofors cannons, eight 20mm cannons and two 8mm machine guns. Technically the main armament could be put here as they were capable of being used for AA purposes.
She carried six 533mm torpedoes in two triple torpedo tubes as well as two sinkbomb throwers and two depthcharge droppers, she could also carry up to 40 mines.
Pictures
Sources
HMS Öland (J16) – Wikipedia (Swedish)
Militaria - Hans Högman (Swedish)
Öland-klass – Wikipedia (Swedish)