TYPE: Coastal battleship
BUILDING SITE: Armstrong, Elswick, Great Britain
PREVIOUS NAME: HMS Glatton
LAUNCHED: 8 August 1914
ARMAMENT
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2x 240mm L/50 (9.45") Elswick Pattern “E” Cannons
-Gun Weight: 32 mt
-Gun Length oa: 12,328 m
-Bore Length: 12,000 m
-Rifling Length: 10,236 m
-Rate Of Fire: 2 rounds per minute (30 second reload)
-Designation: Single Mounts
-Weight: 197.3 mt
-Elevation: -5 / +35 degrees
-Train: about +150 / -150 degrees
-Range with: 172.4 kg HE 4crh Shell
-Elevation: 35 degrees (Standard Charges) - 27,430 m
-Range with: 177.4 kg HE 8crh Shell
-Elevation: 35 degrees (Super Charges) - 35,660 m -
4x 152mm BL Mark XVIII (6"/49) Cannons
-Gun Weight: 8.873 mt
-Gun Length oa: 7.720 m
-Bore Length: 7.455 m
-Chamber Volume: 27.04 dm3
-Rate Of Fire: 3 rounds per minute (20 Second reload)
-Range with 45.36Kg HE; Elevation 20 degrees - 14,650 m
-Designation: Single Mounts Glatton: Mark IV
-Weight (less shield): 66.8 mt
-Elevation: -5 / +20 degrees
-Train: Bow and stern: about -150 / +150 degrees
-Amidships: about -80 / +80 degrees -
4x 102mm (4"/45) BL Mark X Cannons
Ammunition stowage per gun: Between 150-200 rounds
Rate Of Fire: 10 - 12 rounds per minute (6-5 sec reload)
Muzzle Velocity: 800 mps
Working Pressure: 2,910 kg/cm2
Approximate Barrel Life: 3,600 rounds -
2x 76mm cannons anti air
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2x 45.7 cm Underwater Torpedo tubes in broadsides
Whitehead Model VIII
Dimensions: 45cm x 5,35 Meter
Weight with Netbreaker: 734 kg
Weight without Netbreaker: 724 kg
Warhead: 100 kg
Speed & Ranges
44kn/1000m
39-40kn/2000m
26.5kn/6000m
TECHNICAL DATA
Displacement: 4.900 Ton
Length: 94.5 Meter
Width: 16.8 Meter
Depth: 5.4 Meter
MACHINERY
2x Hawtorn Leslie & Co Triple Expansion steam eignes
Power: 4.500 Indicated Horse Power
Speed: 15 Knots (27.78 Km/h)
CREW
Estimated crew: 270 men
ARMOR
Belt: 80 mm
Bulkheads: 100 mm
Barbettes: 200 mm
Turrets: 200 mm
Decks: 64 mm
Conning tower: 200 mm
Hull Material: Steel
Anti-torpedo-bulges
CALENDAR
1914: Taken over by Great Britain, registered as monitor and managing director HMS Glatton
1918: Caught fire at Dover 11 September and sunk to avoid explosion
1926: Raised and scrapped
HISTORY
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Brief introduction
Bjørgvin, which was under construction during the First World War, was seized by the British and renamed Glatton. In the British Navy it was registered as a monitor. The command was raised only on 31 August 1918, and on 11 September it arrived at Dover. On the same day, a fire broke out on board with subsequent explosions, and the British themselves sank the vessel with torpedo shots to avoid a major disaster.
Glatton was subsequently raised, but the wreck remained in Dover harbor until March 1926, when it was broken up.
Background
Armoring of vessels gained momentum after the Battle of Hampton Roads during the American Civil War. Norway also acquired four such “floating fortresses”, called monitors, until 1872. However, they had a limited field of operation and after 1872 no investment was made in the concept.
Again, it became a professional question, among other things for the “Marine’s Regulation Commission”, whether Iman should focus on seagoing vessels or a narrower coastal defence. With limited finances, from 1877-1892 it was the archipelago defense that prevailed and we got a number (however considerably less than proposed) of unarmoured steam gunboats in 3 classes. In 1884, the Ministry of the Navy was merged with the Ministry of the Army, and the limited resources the Navy received were not enough to replace the monitors with new armored ships. With the strong technological development in the period, this meant that the Navy lagged behind in relation to other countries, including Sweden.
It was only when the union dispute escalated in 1895 that there was a real turning point in relation to betting on the Navy. Because Sweden was so superior militarily, they could keep Norway in place in the union by “rattling their sabers” (including their armored ships). Norway’s goal was not war, but a balance of power with Sweden. Then the allocation for the first two armored ships. without prior commission processing, went through on 25 July 1895, there was applause from the gallery. An extraordinary grant of NOK 10 million was no small matter either. In 1898-99, extraordinary grants were again given for two more armored ships.
A little about Bjørgvin and the other Coastal battleships
Although the new armored ships, in contrast to the monitors, had good seagoing characteristics, they were primarily coastal defense ships, with low speed and limited radius of action, but with heavy armament and good protection.
In the construction, many differences were made with the Swedes’ armored ships, especially their newest armored ship Oden, which they had to try to surpass.
The vessels had a skirt of armor attached to wooden beams in the width extension of the deck, and this armor was around the waterline of more than 15 cm. The deck, which itself was on 50 mm armor sloped from the side down below the waterline where it met the armor skirt. Between the armored skirt, the sloping deck and the deck beam it was then filled up with coal. A projectile that hit the waterline thus had to penetrate both the armor belt, the hull and the sloping armored deck to enter the vessel’s vital parts. The vessels also had a double bottom. An armored command tower was placed on the forward bridge where the commander had his place during battle. Great care was also taken to ensure that the vessels would not sink, even if they were hit, and it was therefore divided into a total of 46 watertight compartments, including the double bottom. Originally, the vessels had a “ram” or spar below the waterline in the bow, based on a good old fashioned spar idea. This was later removed in line with the changed tactics, but it would later turn out that such a frame had its hydrodynamic advantages.
Certain improvements were made from the first two to the next two ships. It was found, among other things, that the chimney was inappropriately high and they therefore went in for two slightly smaller chimneys at P/S Eidsvoll and P/S Norge. The development trend was that people gradually tried to squeeze more and better artillery into the vessels, which increased the displacement, but at the same time reduced the speed as the machinery’s performance was not increased accordingly. Otherwise, they were clearly distinguished from each other by the fact that P/S Harald Hårfagre and P/S Tordenskjold had black-painted hulls and yellow chimneys, which was not unusual at the time, while P/S Eidsvoll and P/S Norge would get it two years later new gray color above the waterline.
1905
It is beyond any doubt that Norway, not only through the acquisition of the armored ships, but also through a general rearmament of the Armed Forces up to 1905, had strengthened its self-confidence, and its later position during the negotiations in Karlstad. Due to Russia’s unfortunate engagement with Japan, Sweden was able to transfer significant naval forces from its east coast to its west coast in June/July 1905. Our armored ships therefore played a particularly important role, both in relation to a possible real attack and thus in relation to the negotiation game. The way Norway was to dispose of its armored ships in this critical phase led to a bitter dispute between the offensive-minded rear admiral Børresen, who was commander of the armored ship squadron, and the more sober vice-admiral Sparre, who was commanding admiral.
Now, as is known, things went well, and after the dissolution of the union, some of the driving force towards a stronger naval defense also disappeared. Some of it is obviously due to financial considerations, but from a professional point of view it was probably just as wrong that the acquisition of the armored ships had not been anchored in a well-discussed plan about what the Navy’s tasks were and what role the armored ships were to fulfill. When justified planning proposals were eventually presented in 1908-09, there was still a professional focus on armored ships, but it was only when Norway’s neutrality was threatened in 1913 that the politicians were once again involved in such a move. But the two armored ships that were then ordered were never to be delivered.
World war one
After the tension in relation to Sweden had subsided, Norwegian politicians no longer saw any enemies, and when international tension increased, Norway chose a neutral position. According to the Hague Convention, neutral states are obliged to supervise their territory, according to given criteria, i.e. exercise a police authority in relation to other ship traffic. In addition, Norway could be far from certain that neither England nor Germany would benefit from some form of occupation of Norwegian territory. The west was especially vulnerable. Among other things, this was made visible in 1913 when Emperor Wilhelm, as a pure demonstration of power, came to an unveiling ceremony in Sogn escorted by 25 larger warships! Here the armored ships had to play an important role and the Storting now agreed to the building of two further armored ships from Armstrong in England at a cost of NOK 20 million. These, to be named P/S Nidaros and P/S Bjørgvin, were a further improvement on the old ones, although not as great as one might have expected. Nidaros was decommissioned on 9 June 1914 and should have been delivered in May 1915, but the needs of the British Navy superseded the foreign assignments. Navy Minister Churchill offered to take over/redeem the vessels in a friendly way “for the good of small nations”. Norway protested formally, but of course without effect.
The ironclads were the very backbone and the strategic reserve throughout the war. They constituted security for the use of the smaller vessels, which were largely hired and poorly equipped. They regularly conducted exercises. The armored ships developed a good relationship with the coastal population, and on special occasions they were constantly provided with “extra food” from civilians, which came in handy under otherwise scarce rations. They were not involved in so many specific operations, but when Norway laid mines at Utsira in 1918 to prevent the passage of belligerent submarines (read German) to the Atlantic, the armored ships probably helped to prevent these being swept away.
After the war, Norway was offered to take over Nidaros (renamed Gorgon), but declined this, partly because it had been rebuilt (extended width to withstand torpedo hits) so that there was no longer room in the dock for KJV, and partly because it was not political basis for such expenditure. Bjørgvin (renamed Glatton) had been sunk by the British themselves, after a fire and explosion on board. just 14 days after the command was lifted on 31 August 1918. In this sense, the British enjoyed limited pleasure from their seizures.
ARMAMENT
The 152mm BL Mark XVIII (6"/49) cannon was originally a 15cm (5.87") cannon that was designed by Elswick to be used as the secondary armament of the Norwegian Coastal battleships Niraros and Bjørgvin. Those cannons were relined to 6" (15.2 cm), the reason for this was so that the cannons could fire standard British ammunition, and the actual bore lenght after this relining was 48.92 calibers.
Construction wise this cannon is very simlar to the Mark XVII, but the long jacket had been replaced with a B tube and with a shorter jacket. It used a hand-worked Welin breech-block. And a total of ten cannons were manufactured. This cannon can fire CPC 4crh and HE 4crh shells with a weight of 45.3 kilograms. The bursting charge for CPC was 3.4 kilogram and for HE it was 6.0 kilogram. The lenght of the CPC shell was 59.7 cm and HE were 58.2 cm. For propellant, 12.99 kilogram of MD26 were used, and the muzzle velocity were 876 meter per second for both ammunition types. the firerate were 3 rounds per minute, wich is ca20 second reload. the cannons had a ammunition capasity of an estimated 200 rounds per tower, and this vessel had 4x, two placed on each sides of the midship and one mounted above the 240mm cannons on the foredeck in front of the brigde and one in the aft of the vessel. They all had armored shields but wich armor thickness is to me not known.
The 240mm L/50 (9.45") Elswick Pattern “E” Cannons were originally designed by Elswick and three of them were completed with this Norwegian requested 24 cm/50 (9.45") Pattern ‘E’. These was going to be used ont the coastal battleships Nidaros and Bjørgvin. but after the breakout of ww1 and when Britain took the ships as a result of this, the cannons were relined down to 9.2" (23.4 cm) in torder to be able to fire standard british ammunition. and three more cannons were made in this caliber. after the relining was 51.35 calibers. The differences should not be that big, i have to dive down into archives to find further details. but one thing to note is that the Norwegian verison of these cannons could only eleveate to +35 and not +40 as after the Brits changed them. The placements are 1x in the front and rear of the vessel and placed in armored shields. they had a reload time of 2 rounds per minute wich is 30 second reload, and approx 130 rounds stored, if this is per turret or not i have no data of.
The 102mm (4"/45) BL Mark X Cannons were originally specifically built for the two Norwegian coastal battleships Bjørgvin and Nidaros. These were Elswick Pattern T cannons and was partly wire wound, the breech was a coden breech lock. a total of 15 guns were ever produced of these cannons.
The torpedoes of the vessel were the Whitehead Model VIII torpedoes wich 8x with reinforcement blocks and lugs produced for the torpedo tubes at Nidaros and Bjørgvin. These torpedoes had acess to something called “Netbreaker” in Norwegian “Nettbryter” (i could not find the word for this). but with this tool the total weight was 734 kilogram and without it was 724 kilogram. The warhead of the Torpedo was 100 kilogram, but i don’t know the kind of explosives, but it is either cotton or TNT.
MODEL OF THE VESSEL
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AMMUNITION
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152mm BL Mark XVIII (6"/49) Cannons
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Type: Bag
Projectile Types and Weights;
CPC 4crh: 45.3 kg
HE 4crh: 45.3 kg
Bursting Charge
CPC: 3.4 kg
HE: 6.0 kg
Projectile Length
CPC: 59.7 cm
HE: 58.2 cm
Propellant Charge: 12.99 kg MD26
Muzzle Velocity: 876 mps
Approximate Barrel Life: 1,200 rounds
Ammunition stowage per gun: 200 rounds
Armor penetration based on weight (Used a calculator for tanks, this just gives an idea)
152mm + CPC 4crh: 45.3 kg + 876 mps = 199mm of penetration
240mm L/50 (9.45") Elswick Pattern “E” Cannons
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Type: Bag
Projectile Types and Weights
APC 4crh: 172.4 kg
HE 4crh: 172.4 kg
HE 8crh1: 77.4 kg
Bursting Charge
APC: N/A
HE: 18.1 kg
Projectile Length
APC: N/A
HE 4crh: 84.6 cm
HE 8crh: N/A
Propellant Charges
Standard: 58.3 kg MD37
Super: 68.9 kg MD45
Muzzle Velocity
HE 4crh with standard charges: 896 mps
HE 8crh with super charges: 933 mps
Working Pressure: N/A
Ammunition stowage per gun: 130 rounds
Range with: 172.4 kg HE 4crh Shell
Elevation: 40 degrees (Standard Charges) - 27,430 m
Range with: 177.4 kg HE 8crh Shell
Elevation: 40 degrees (Super Charges) - 35,660 m
Armor penetration based on weight (Used a calculator for tanks, this just gives an idea)
240mm + APC 4crh: 172.4 kg + 896 mps = 316mm of penetration
240mm + APC 4crh: 172.4 kg + mps = 329mm of penetration
4x 102mm (4"/45) BL Mark X Cannons
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Type: Bag
Projectile Types and Weights;
HE: 14.1 kg
SAP 1: N/A probably about 14.1 kg
Propellant Charge
World War I: 3.5 kg MD16
World War II: 3.59 kg SC103 or 4.3 kg NF/S164-048
Muzzle Velocity: 800 mps
Armor penetration based on weight (Used a calculator for tanks, this just gives an idea)
102mm + 14.2kg + 800 mps = 122mm penetration
2x 45.7 cm Underwater Torpedo tubes in broadsides
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Whitehead Model VIII
Dimensions: 45cm x 5,35 Meter
Weight with Netbreaker: 734 kg
Weight without Netbreaker: 724 kg
Warhead: 100 kg
Speed & Ranges
44kn/1000m
39-40kn/2000m
26.5kn/6000m
PICTURES AND IMPORTANT DETAILS
SOURCES
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https://www.antikvariat.net/sv/ada18406-90-ar-under-rent-norsk-orlogsflagg-thomassen-marius-adamstuen-antikvariat
Norske marinefartøy - samtlige norske marinefartøy 1814-2008 og marinens flygevåpen 1912-1944 | ARK Bokhandel
Fylkesbaatane – Om saluttkanoner - Kulturhistorisk leksikon
90 år under rent norsk orlogsflagg - Deichman.no
Redirecting...
152mm cannon
Britain 6"/49 (15.2 cm) BL Mark XVIII - NavWeaps
240mm Cannon
Britain 9.2"/51 (23.4 cm) Mark XII - NavWeaps
102mm cannon
Britain 4"/45 (10.2 cm) BL Marks IX and X - NavWeaps
45.7cm torpedoes
Whitehead og andre norskbygde torpedoer - Kystfort
- Yes
- No
