H.M Jagare Romulus of the Romulus class
- Yes
- No
H.M Jagare Romulus was a coastal destroyer (Kustjagare) of the Romulus class and built by BSN in Naples which served in the Swedish navy. H.M Jagare Romulus and her class were former Italian Spica class torpedo boats purchased from Italy in 1940 due to the Swedish navy being in a dire need of ships, in the same deal the Sella turned Psilander class of destroyers were also purchased. H.M Jagare Romulus and her sister ship H.M Jagare Remus served well, being put in the Göteborgseskadern during the war to guard the fjords and coast from possible invading forces. They were reclassified as frigates in the 1953 and served as such until they were put out of service in 1958.
History and related info
In 1932, the Italian navy wanted to bolster their naval forces, however this was troublesome as they needed to follow the Washington treaty. They began designing a torpedo boat that would not violate the treaty and found that ships under 600 Tons could be built in unlimited numbers, from that the Spica class was born. Starting production in 1934, the Spica class of torpedo boats were produced rapidly reaching 32 ships in just 3 years. They did however end up violating the treaty anyways, weighing in at over 700 tons, but at that point no one really cared about the treaty anymore.
The Spica class ship “Cassiopea” in Italian service, she would later sink HMS Pakenham!
Two of these ships, Spica and Astore, were sold to Sweden in 1940 and were renamed Romulus and Remus respectively. These two ships along with the destroyers Psilander and Puke would face trouble on the way home to Sweden, being involved in the “Psilander affair” and interned in Britain for a while. Luckily after negotiating with the British and stopping a potential war, they were let go with the rest of the convoy and headed home to Sweden.
H.M Jagare Romulus (27), next to her is her sister ship H.M Jagare Remus (28).
When in Sweden she and Remus were put into the Göteborgseskadern and spent most of her time guarding the fjords and coastline from potential invaders. As you can imagine, the navy saw the smallest amount of conflict out of all branches in the Swedish military and H.M Jagare Romulus happened to not see any action whatsoever while in Sweden! When the war was over she spent more time sailing, guarding and participating in naval exercises until she was reclassified as a frigate in 1953, there she served proudly until 1958 were she was put out of service and eventually scrapped.
Armament and stats
A these were coastal destroyers, they were lightly armed compared to other destroyers.
Length: 81.4 meters
Width: 8.2 meters
Draft: 2.3 meters
Displacement: 630 / 900 tons
Maximum speed: 34 knots
Crew: 99
The main armament consisted three 100 mm cannons m/40
The Anti-air armament question is a rather debated though it is said to be consisting of three 20 mm lvakan m/38 and two 13.2 mm lvksp m/31. If you know more, do share!
We know for sure however that she carried two 45,7 cm torpedoes in single tubes as well as
two sjbf m/33 and two sjbk m/33 sinkbomb throwers and droppers, she could also carry up to 28 mines.
Sources
Romulus-klass – Wikipedia (Swedish)
Militaria - Hans Högman (Swedish)
Spica-class torpedo boat - Wikipedia (English, about the Spica class, before Swedish ownership)