HNoMS Nordhav II (FY-1906) - A requisitioned Whaler, armed as a minesweeper and served during WW2

Til_Dovre_Faller · September 2, 2024, 2:07pm

HNoMS NORDHAV II (FY-1906)

TYPE: guard boat/Minesweeper
OLD NAME: Ex Sweeper
PREVIOUS OWNER: A/S Nordhavet, Kristiansund N
BUILDING SITE: Cook, Welton & Gemmell Ltd, Beverley, England
LAUNCHED: 1913
HIRED: 1939
IN COMMAND: 1939 - 10-03.1945
WAR OPERATIONAL: 07.02.1941 In Great Britain

ARMAMENT 1914

Spoiler

1x 76mm cannon
-Placement: Bow, on a platform

i am not entirely sure if that is more or less the same cannon model as later, in ww2

ARMAMENT 1939

Spoiler

1x 76mm L/40 Armstrong Whitworth Fast Firing cannon
-Barrel length in caliber: L/40
-Placement: Bow, on a platform
1x 20mm Oerlikon cannon
-Placement: on some sort of tower, just behind the chimney, clearly visible on the picture/drawing.
Uncertain wich exact model, but i am very sure it is the Mk.II L/70
4x1 .303 Hotchkiss machineguns

-Placement: 1x on each side in front of the wheelhouse, and according to the drawing it seems to be 1x on each side on the top of the wheelhouse.
-Armor: The mg’s did later in the service get armored shields, most likely simlar to the one in the picture
-Mass: 12 kg
-Length: 1.23 m
-Barrel length: 64 cm
-Cartridge: .303 British (Britain)
-Action: Gas-operated
-Rate of fire: 400-600 rounds per minute[1]
-Maximum firing range: 3800 m
-Feed system: 30-round feed strip, or belt-fed
[u Depth charge racks[/u]
-Amount nor type is specified, proably two without throwers
Minesweep
-Oropesa Sweep

TECHNICAL DATA
Displacement: 425 Gross tonnage
Length: 45.72 Meter
Width: 7.65 Meter
Depth: 4.11 Meter

MACHINERY
1x Triple expansion Nyland steam eigne
Power: 650 Indicated Horse Powers
Speed: 10 knots (18.52 Km/h)
Bunkers: 160 Metric Tons of Coal
Range : 3654n. miles at 7 knots (12.96 Km/h)

CREW
Estimated crew: 23 Men

HISTORY
The Norwegian Navy’s previous experience in demining was only neutralizing drift mines during and after the First World War. These were isolated cases, because no minefields had been laid out in Norwegian territory. It was not until the early thirties that it was realized that this could become relevant. It was therefore decided to equip six decommissioned Class 2 torpedo boats as combined guard boats and minesweepers. The torpedo guns of these vessels were taken ashore, and on a platform aft an arrangement was set up for Oropesa sweep. Incidentally, there is very little information about the equipment on these vessels. The Oropesa sweep was developed by the Royal Navy during the First World War and was named after the trawler Oropesa which first tried this type of sweep.

The Oropesa sweep, or O sweep as it is also called, consists of a cable or wire that the vessel releases. An otter is attached to the end of the cable, which causes the cable to pull outwards from the vessel. To mark where the otter is, there is a float on the surface, called a Paravan. Along the cable there are knives that will cut the anchoring of any mines so that they float up and can be neutralized. Another otter is attached to the inner side of the vessel, so that the sweep cable cuts into the water. The system is the same as on a trawl. The O-sweep, which is operated by one vessel, was a necessary further development of the English A-sweep. This consisted of a cable, pulled between two or more vessels. During an attack, it was very difficult to maneuver with the A-sweep in the sea. The growing threat of war and thus the danger of minelaying in Norwegian waters meant that, in addition to the rebuilding of the 2. kl. torpedo boats, it was decided to build two minesweepers. These, OTRA and RAUMA, were built at Akers mech. Workshop and were completely new and fully equipped when Great Britain announced that they had laid mines at Stad, Hustadvika and Landegode north of Bodø in April 1940. OTRA and RAUMA were in Horten and had received orders to go to Western Norway to clear the minefields, but was instead involved in the fighting at Horten harbor after the German attack on 9 April. OTRA was, following reports of foreign warships in the Oslofjord, sent out to observe and was able to 04.10 report that these vessels were German. RAUMA joined OLAV TRYGGVASON in battle with the German Raumboot R.17 and R.27 at Horten harbour. R.27 fired at RAUMA and badly damaged the vessel. The Chief, Itn. I. K. Winsnes, and one deckhand was killed and six others wounded, OTRA became the Germans’ prey at the quay at Filtvet, was named TOGO and was used as a guard boat until the navy got it back in 1947. Then OTRA was converted into a training vessel for minelaying.

It was after the rebuilding of the guard boats Bjerk, Syrian, Børtind, Nordhav II, Thorodd and Hval V that the navy got to try its hand at minesweeping duty in Great Britain. These were the vessels that made it over to Great Britain after the fighting in Norway ceased in June 1940. In addition to these, the navy took over its first vessel from the Roy Navy. It was the trawler ALCMARIA, equipped as a minesweeper and under Norwegian command from 15 October 1940 to 28 November 1944. The next minesweeper taken over from the Royal Navy was actually Norwegian. The whaleboat POLAR VI was requisitioned by the Royal Navy as early as March 1940 and transferred to the navy in February 1941. The minesweepers were first stationed in harbor towns on the east and north coast of Scotland. Later, it became most practical to gather the Norwegian minesweepers in a separate Norwegian minesweeper division, which had its station in Dundee.

HNoMS Nordhav II Was built in 1913 and launched as Sweeper G-853 on 24 February, by Cook, Welton & Gemmell Ltd, Beverly, England for Thomas S. Bascomb, Grimsby, England. in 1914 the ship was requisitioned by the British Admiralty and renamed HMS Sweeper. It was then converted into a minesweeper and had a 76mm cannon mounted on it.

After service as a minesweeper for Britain, the ship was sold in April to A/S Nordhavet (Jan L. Backer), Kristiansund, and renamed NORDHAV II in 1936. but just a few years later, in 1939, the ship was requisitioned again, this time by the The Norwegian Navy, as a patrol ship in Finnmark. Equipped by Kaarbøs Mek. Workshop, Harstad.

on 10 March 1945, HNoMS Nordhav II was scattered from her convoy FS-1753 which led to the ship being torpedoed by the German submarine U-714 near Dundee. Five Norwegians, one Brit lost his life in this incident. There were only 17 survivors after the ship sank, and they had been picked up by another Norwegian minesweeper HNoMS Syrian, which then took the survivors ashore in Dundee.

GENERAL ARRANGEMENT (Detailed drawing, internals and placements of guns)