H.M Pansarbåt Wasa (1907), Äran class

LelutooDS · May 22, 2026, 11:01am

H.M Pansarbåt Wasa

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H.M Pansarbåt Wasa (Also called Vasa) was a coastal defense ship of the Äran class that served in the Swedish navy. Built by Finnboda shipyard, she was ordered in 1899 as the second ship of the Äran class coastal defense ships due to the increasing instability of the Swedish - Norwegian union. Receiving a modernization for 1907, she served well through ww1 and the interwar years, being informally decommissioned in 1924, being unmanned and not stocked. By 1939 she was considered too old and worn to be modernized alongside her sisters, as such she was instead made a dummy ship when she was officially decommissioned in 1940. Years later in 1960, H.M Wasa was sold for scrapping in Karlskrona and finally scrapped in 1961.

History

Once upon a time in 1899, the Swedish government had watched their neighboring country Norway’s decision to procure two new coastal defense ships of the Eidsvold class alongside their newly built Tordenskjold class with concern. At the time, the union with Sweden and Norway was growing more unstable, as such seeing Norway, a country they may soon be at war with, expanding their fleet with modern armored war ships was alarming. At the same time, the Swedish navy was looking to procure new armored ships themselves based on the lessons learned with the preceding armored ship H.M Pansarskepp Dristigheten. When the proposition to expand the fleet reached the government, it was approved and funds were allocated for the construction of three new coastal defense ships of what would become the Äran class, (H.M Pansarbåt) Äran, Wasa and Tapperheten, two years later however, a fourth ship of the same class was ordered, that being H.M Manligheten.

H.M Pansarbåt Wasa being launched, 1901.

H.M Wasa would end up being built and launched at the Finnboda shipyard in Stockholm in 1901, joining the navy in late 1902. She would see her first deployment on the west coast of Sweden following the collapse of the Swedish-Norwegian Union. Though after that she did little other than exercises and looking good. During the early years between 1906 and 1907, she along with her sisters went through a small rebuild, improving the forward mast by turning it into a triple-legged one housing a rangefinder and improving the bridge design. During ww1 she was a part of the neutrality guard defending Swedish waters from intruding ships, luckily she did not partake in any battles. During the interwar years, H.M Wasa was beginning to show her age, from 1924 and onwards it was decided to no longer keep her armed and ready, she was kept afloat in the navy but was no longer supported.

H.M Pansarbåt Wasa at sea.

When war broke out once more in 1939, the ships of the Äran class were looked at for modernizing to keep them ready for battle. H.M Wasa however was considered too worn for such an undertaking and it was decided in 1940 to decommission her, taking her hull and stationing it in the Hårsfjärden to use it as a dummy ship for the much more modern and powerful ship H.M Pansarskepp Drottning Victoria, fooling any potential air recon into thinking that she was stationed and ready there instead of the old H.M Wasa. Post war she was repurposed as a ship used for repair and protective measures training at Berga Örlogsskolor. In 1960 however her time was up and she was sold for scrapping in Karlskrona, being scrapped in 1961.

Armament and stats

Length: 89,7 Meters
Width: 15,02 Meters
Draught: 5,02 Meters
Displacement: 3650 / 3735 Tons
Speed: 16,77 Knots (31 Kp/h) (Thanks to 2 x 3-cylinder Motala triple expansion steam engines, powering two propellers with 5500 hp.)
Crew: 285 Men

Main armament: 2 x 21 Cm Kanon m/98, each cannon in its own turret with one forward and one stern. They could fire around 1 shell a minute to a range of around 9 km.

21cm shells:
Hpgr m/98, 127 kg with 8,9kg filler, 750 m/s.
Pprj m/02 (capped), 125 kg, 750 m/s.

Secondary armament: 6 x 15,2 Cm Kanon m/98, single turrets with three on each side of the ship. They could fire around 6-7 shells a minute to a range of around 8 km.

15,2cm shells:
Hpgr m/36, 46kg with 2,6kg filler, 770 m/s.
Stgr m/40, 46kg with 3,99kg filler, 770 m/s.
Sgr m/36, 46kg with 5,45kg filler, 770 m/s.

10 x 57mm Kan m/89B. Fire rate of around 20-35 shells a minute with a range of about 5 km.

57 mm cannon’s available shells:
Stgr m/89, 2,7 kg with 97 grams of filler, 704 m/s
Slpgr m/44, 2,7 kg with 60 grams of filler, 704 m/s
Sgr m/28, 2,7 kg with 230 grams of filler, 704 m/s
Slsgr m/28, 2,5 kg with 130 grams of filler, 700 m/s

2 x 45,7cm Undervattenstub m/99, two submerged torpedo tubes with one on each side of the ship.

Armor: Krupp Armor

Belt: 175mm
Deck: 25mm - 48mm
Conning tower: 175mm - 200mm

21cm cannon turrets: 130mm - 190mm
Supports: 200mm

15,2cm cannon turrets: 60mm - 125mm
Gun hoists: 100mm

Photos