TYPE: Patrol vessel/Whaler
BUILDING SITE: Akers Mekaniske Verksted, Oslo, Bnr 442
NAMES: In German service named Kanonier NK 08
LAUNCHED: August 1929
REQUISITIONED: Autumn 1939
IN COMMAND: 1939 - 29-04.1940
OWNER: A/S Odd (Thor Dahl A/S) Sandefjord
ARMAMENT EARLY
Spoiler
- 1x 76mm cannon
Not specified model, but proably the 76mm L/40 Armstrong Whitworth fast firing cannon as this was the most usual cannon the requisitioned vessels got in 1939.
ARMAMENT LATE
Spoiler
- 2x 37mm cannons
I am very uncertian abou this, it was armed with two 37mm cannons, but due to very little information, this might have been an German configuration after they captured it, but i don’t have acess to German achives
TECHNICAL DATA
Displacement: 247 Gross registered tons
Length: 35.26 Meter
Width: 7.28 Meter
Depth: 4.26 Meter
MACHINERY
1x triple expansion steam eigne
Power: 141 NHP
Speed: 12 Knots (22.22 km/h)
CREW
Estimated crew: 15 men
HISTORY
This vessel, Firern was built in Oslo at aker’s mechanical workshop for the whaling company Atlas A/S (Chr. Nielsen & Co. A/S) in Larvik, and was christened Firern. It was here for a year before it was sold to the Whaling company Atlas A/S (A/S Thor Dahl) in Sandefjord and in 1931 to A/S Odd (A/S Thor Dahl) Sandefjord. Here it served until the autumn of 1939, when the ship was requisitioned by the Royal Norwegian Navy and armed with a cannon to serve as a patrol boat. this was as a result of the tense situation after Germany invaded Poland. HNoMS Firern was on site in Jøssingfjord on 16 February 1940 together with the Norwegian torpedo boats HNoMS Skarv & HNoMS Kjell. HNoMS Firern was abandoned by her own crew in Rasvåg, Hidra on 29 April 1940 due to engine failure/damaged engine, and the ship was later found by German forces on 2 May and was then towed to the quay in Kristiansand. Here it was later converted into an escort vessel and renamed NK 08 Kanonier. One year later, Firern was sunk by a torpedo released from a British aircraft while they were escorting the streamer Helga Inga towards Stavanger. The streamer Helga Ina then saved 16 surviving Germans, and took on board 3 men who unfortunately died when the torpedo hit. 11 Germans were missing. They had also been attacked by British aircraft not too far from this location earlier in the day, but this was without any damage or loss.
ALBUM
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SOURCES
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Main source
Nasjonalbiblioteket
Norwegian Homefleet - Ships starting with F
D/S Firern - Krigsseilerregisteret
Redirecting…
Norske Marinefartøy – Bodoni Forlag
Leselystig 39: Modeller som forteller – Norsk Marinehistorie | Polar Coordinate
- Yes
- No