- Yes
- No
HNoMS OLAV TRYGGVASON - Minelayer
DESIGNED IN: Norway
BUILDING SITE: Marinens Hovedverft, Horten
BUILDING NUMBER: 119
LAUNCHED: 21 December 1932
HOIST COMMAND: 24 May 1934
ARMAMENT
Early
4x 120mm Bofors L/45 cannons
1x 76mm ALK anti air cannon
2x 40mm Salut-cannon
2x 12.7mm Colt MK machineguns
1x 1x2 Torpedocannon with 45.7cm Modell IX torpedoes 360°
250 mines
Late
4x 120mm Bofors L/45 cannons
1x 76mm ALK anti air cannon
2x 40mm Salut-cannon
2x 12.7mm Colt MK machineguns
1x 1x2 Torpedocannon with 45.7cm Modell IX torpedoes 360°
280 mines
TECHNICAL DATA
Deplacement: 1.924 ton Steel hull
Length: 97.3m
Width: 11.45m
Depth: 3.6m
Bunker: 200 ton oil
Crew As Training ship: 175 men
Crew As Minelayer: 135 men
MACHINERY
Eignes:
- 2x Del Laval Steam-turbines
*Power: 4600 AHK - 2x Sulzer Dieseleignes
*Power: 1400 AHK
Speed: 22 knots (40.74 km/h)
CALENDAR
1934: Test drive
1934: Cadet tour
1934: Recruitment exercises
1940: In battle with German forces in Horten inner harbor on April 9 (2)
1940: Taken over by German forces and aptly named "Albatross" on 17 April
1940: Used as a minelayer throughout the war
1941: New name "Minenschiff Brummer"
1945: Totally destroyed by air raid on Kiel on 3 May, while the ship was in dock. The remains buried in the dock during the dismantling and cleaning of the dock
BACKGROUND
We shall not again tear up the post-war lack of will to invest in the Navy, but only when the Storting in July 1930 finally allocated money for the construction of a new and larger naval vessel, there were a number of needs that had to be taken care of with this one vessel. It was highly necessary to get a replacement for the armored ship Tordenskjold, which had served as a Cadet ship in recent years. Because such voyages often went abroad and involved a degree of representation, it also had to be a relatively large vessel. From both a defense and an exercise perspective, it was important that the ship also had good reinforcement. The fact that they chose to construct it as a minelayer may seem somewhat strange. Fair enough, the interest in mines had picked up somewhat at this time, after the development of this weapon had come to a standstill after the First World War. But Norway, with Frøya, Glommen and Laugen, was reasonably well covered in minelaying, compared to other needs.
As a pure minelayer, Olav Tryggvason was designed to be able to take 280 mines. Most of these were to be placed on mine rails on the continuous mine deck which ended up in three mine hatches in the stern, but also on the main deck it was originally planned to be able to attach mine rails. As a training ship, there also had to be room for 50-60 cadets and for this purpose, space was made on the mine deck for makeshift baths and toilets for the cadets. In order to save space and money, it was arranged that both cadets and ordinary crew should sleep in hammocks. Olav Tryggvarson was designed with a special and complicated propulsion machinery consisting of both two diesel engines and two steam turbines. These could act separately on the two propeller shafts or simultaneously and they could be controlled from the bridge. The four 12cm Bofors guns were also special in the sense that for the first time they were partially produced under license at the Navy’s own artillery workshop
THE LAUNCH
The launch itself on 21 December 1932 is a chapter in itself. When the sermon was to start at 12 o’clock, the bed was surrounded by spectators. Defense Minister Quistling was the guest of honour, along with all the civilian members of the military committee. The problem was that Olav Tryggvarson would not budge. It had been very cold in the days before the launch and the sled field, which this time was of a new type, had simply frozen over. Even with the injection of fresh oil and 100 tonnes of pressure on the hull, the ship stood firm. After a couple of hours and a lot of music from the Marine Music Band, we gave up and moved on to dinner and speeches in the Machine Hall. Quisling thanked the shipyard and emphasized that the work had been “unifying” in a time characterized by increased class antagonisms. He stated that in addition to being a training ship and minelayer, the vessel should also “show the flag to the world”. The minister explained that the name was Olav Tryggvarson, showing that the old Viking king had been both brave, fearless, popular and loved his men. Witty tongues have since claimed that the vessel was also prescient, because it refused to budge for the later traitor!
THE TIME BEFORE 9 APRIL
After a short trial trip, Olav Tryggvason went on his first trip with cadets in the summer of 1934. The cadets normally lasted three months and usually spent 3-4 weeks abroad. This first year, however, they only went up and down the Norwegian coast with stops in all the big cities to show off the vessel. Already the following year, the foreign part of the cadet tour was restored, with visits to Brussels, Antwerp, Lisbon, Bilbao and Liverpool. A review of Olav Tryggvason’s log books from the first months shows that the vessel sailed a lot and that there was a large turnover of officers on board, probably because as many as possible should gain experience from this type of ship. From an article by Stamsø we know that in 1937 the Government considered sending Olav Tryggvason to Spain in connection with the civil war. Stamsø does not interfere in the political assessment, but he expresses how important Olav Tryggvason is in the role of target vessel in joint exercises with submarines and torpedo boats
with its 12cm guns, Olav Tryggvason has been referred to as an artillery ship. the guns could be controlled simultaneously from a central sight
From the cruise in 1937, we are constantly told stories at the Marine Museum, from Ludvig Hartmark. He himself took part in the expedition as a machine cadet and he was ordered to a landing exercise, in white shirts, high hats and a Madsen machine gun. During the protection of neutrality, Olav Tryggvason was involved in the two most famous episodes. The biggest role was undoubtedly played in the affair with the “City of Flint”, the American merchant ship, which with a German prize crew had been escorted by various Norwegian naval vessels from Tromsø and further south. Both the Royal Navy and the world press followed closely the voyage and how Norway complied with its own neutrality regulations. When the ship’s commander, Commodore Briseid, reported to tank Nielsen that the City of Flint had anchored off Haugesund on 6 November, thus breaking the neutrality regulations, Foreign Minister Koht decided that Olav Tryggvason should take action. Under the cover of darkness, 20 armed crews from Olav Tryggvason were put over with the help of the sjauleups and these took the German prize crew by surprise. The campaign had shown that there was a Norwegian willingness to campaign against violations of neutrality
The Norwegian neutrality protection did not receive the same amount of credit during the well-known Altmark affair in the Jøssingfjord in February 1940. Olav Tryggvason only came to the scene after the destroyer Cossak had gone into action for freeing the British prisoners and killing five of the German crew members. The task was to look after Altmark and later escort it to Sandefjord. At the burial of the dead Germans, Commander Briseid had also been tasked with laying a wreath from the Navy.
In addition to cannons and mines the ship had a turnable torpedo battery in the middle of the ship
THE FIGHTS AT HORTEN “The battle of Horten”
In early April, Olav Tryggvason was at the Navy’s main shipyard for some repair work. They had not received the notification of heightened preparedness on the evening of 8 April and part of the crew, including three of the four gun commanders, had thus received leave of absence. Late in the evening, however, Briseid was informed by Admiral Smith-Johansen that a German attack could be expected. Olav Tryggvason therefore moved to a buoy with the broadside towards Vealøs and from 02.15 it was declared “clear ship”. Because they thought the minesweepers Otra and Rauma were further out and would warn of enemy vessels with flares, they were nevertheless surprised when the German minesweepers R17 and R21 passed by at a distance of only 60 meters on their way westward into the inner harbor to land soldiers. rather than immediately open fire and draw all guns, Briseid first chose to fire warning shots. Only when R17 approached the landing pier did the sharp shooting begin. The R17 was hit first, but it managed to land most of the soldiers before it was hit again. A little later, Olav Tryggvason directed his fire at the torpedo boat Albatros, which tried to enter Indre Havn. This was successful in the sense that both Albatros and the sister ship Kondor lay down outside Østøya, where they were directed to fire blindly across the island and into the harbour. The fact that the R-boats had moved and landed their soldiers later turned out to be what decided the battle for Horten, as these, under threat such as bombing the main base, achieved the goal of a peaceful surrender
Raumboot R-17 in flames after combat with Olav Tryggvason!
LAST CHAPTER
Olav Tryggvason, who was only slightly injured, was of course quickly put into German service. There it was named Brummer, after a German minesweeper and artillery ship of that name which had previously been torpedoed in the Kattegat. It was also in this role that the Germans used the Norwegian vessel during the war, first in the North Sea and later in the Baltic Sea. Here, Brummer took part in the fight against the Soviet Union with both mine blockades and other operations. From the winter of 1942/1943 it operated as a minelayer in northern Norwegian waters and further east towards Petsamo. Towards the end of the war, Brummer was back in the Baltic Sea, where in the last phase it took part in the evacuation of German troops from the Baltic. On 3 April it was at the Deutche Werke in Kiel, where it was bombed to a total wreck in drydock number 2 during a heavy Allied bomb attack. After the capitulation, the wreck was blown to pieces and the wreckage was used as filling material for new quay facilities.
SKETCH OF THE SHIP’S DESIGN AND LAYOUT
Norwegian Modell IX torpedo
Spoiler
TECHNICAL DATA
Diameter: 45.7cm
Total weight: 840kg
Exposive charge: 180kg
Speeds:
40 knots 4.000 Meter
20 knots 10.000 Meter
HISTORY
This was the third “all-Norwegian” torpedo developed at the torpedo factory in Horten (Model IX was the first: An improved version of the Whitehead Fiume Model VIII, which was the last model we acquired from Whitehead).
The Model X was an improvement on the Model IX with marginal changes in performance. Model XI, on the other hand, was a small quantum leap with almost double the performance compared to Model IX and X. This was achieved with a combination of mixing alcohol in the water used to produce steam (the propellant) and a newly developed propellant valve for the machine which did not have as much leakage like the traditional slide valves that had been used up until then.
The Norwegian 45 cm Model XI had roughly the same performance as Whitehead’s contemporary new 53 cm model (quite impressive when the air reservoir in a 53 cm torpedo has at least 40% greater volume than in a 45 cm torpedo).
History of the Sulzer Dieseleignes
Spoiler
The Sulzer Brothers foundry was established in Winterthur, Switzerland, in 1834 by Johann Jakob Sulzer-Neuffert and his two sons, Johann Jakob and Salomon. Products include cast iron, firefighting pumps and textile machinery. Rudolf Diesel was educated in Augsburg and Munich and his works training was with Sulzer, and his later co-operation with Sulzer led to the construction of the first Sulzer diesel engine in 1898. In 2015, the Sulzer company lives on but it no longer manufactures diesel engines, having sold the diesel engine business to Wärtsilä in 1997
whs-0200-0001 hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB (Pictrue of a naval Sulzer eigne)
History of DeLaval and the steam eignes
Spoiler
The Laval turbine is an early type of steam turbine that was developed in the 1880s by the Swedish inventor Carl Gustaf de Laval. He constructed the turbine to drive a milk separator he had developed himself. The Laval turbine is best suited for low outputs, but has been further developed into multi-stage steam turbines with higher outputs. The efficiency of the Laval turbine is lower than other types of steam turbines, which meant that it was outcompeted by more efficient turbine designs.
Carl Gustaf de Laval
Gustaf de Laval was a Swedish engineer and industrialist.
He developed the milk separator in the 1870s. To exploit this invention, the company AB Separator was formed in 1883, which is now called Alfa Laval AB, and it grew into a very large business. Another company, AB De Laval’s Steam Turbine, utilized his steam turbine designs.
1024px-Impulse-Turbine hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB (picture of a Del Laval turbine)
Fact about the vessel’s name “Olav Tryggvason”
Spoiler
Olav Tryggvason was king of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of the petty king Tryggve Olavsson and Astrid Eiriksdatter. Before he became Norwegian king, Olav took part in Viking expeditions, especially in England in the early 990s.
PICTURES AND IMPORTANT DETAILS
Spoiler
IMPORTANT!
(OLAV tryggvason ny — ImgBB)
93867896-3100908363262330-6849999145176924160-n hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB (Pictrue,shows Olav Tryggvason’s wreck in Kiel 1945)
318170526-467104415496566-2938083056307812825-n hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB (pictrue, At the top of the bridge we see the central sight for the artillery)
319010089-713475283677929-6334195220209547740-n hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB(pictrue,Two permanent pieces of rail were placed all the way aft. From here I could lay out temporary minesweepers forward to about midships when there was a need to have extra mines on deck)
318045565-509117914584315-5023888960684077838-n hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB (pictrue, Olav Tryggvason had very powerful winches on his sloops, they have allegedly been used to load torpedoes, mines and other heavy material)
SOURCES
Spoiler
Marinens hovedverft – lokalhistoriewiki.no
DeLaval - Wikipedia
Fylkesbaatane – Om saluttkanoner - Kulturhistorisk leksikon
https://translate.google.no/?hl=no&sl=no&tl=en&op=translate
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angrepet_på_Norge_i_1940
Lavalturbin – Wikipedia
Gustaf de Laval – Store norske leksikon
Lavalturbin – Wikipedia
History of Sulzer diesel engines - Wikipedia
Busch-Sulzer Collection | Collections | Missouri Over There
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
Leselystig 39: Modeller som forteller – Norsk Marinehistorie | Polar Coordinate
Olav 1. Tryggvason – norsk konge 995–1000 – Store norske leksikon
Raumboot "R 17" brender etter kampene med mine-leggeren "Olav Tryggvason" 9 april 1940 - Stb. Låring - Forsvarets museer / DigitaltMuseum
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