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HNoMS STORD - Destroyer Savage class
BUILDING SITE: J.Samuel White & Co. Ltd. Cowes, Great Britain
PREVIOUS NAME: G26 HMS Success
LAUNCHED: 3 April 1943
HOIST NORWEGIAN COMMAND: 26 August 1943
ARMAMENT
4x 120mm cannons
2x 40mm Bofors cannons
4x 20mm Oerlicon cannons
8x 53.3cm torpedotubes
80x depth charges/sinking mines
TECHNICAL DATA
Displacement: 2.400 ton
Hull: steel
Length: 122.1m
Width: 11.7m
Depth: 5.7m
Crew: 230 men
MACHINERY
2x Parson SR geared turbines
Power: 40.000 AHK
Speed: 36 knots
CALENDAR
1943: Transferred to KNM 26 August, new name STORD
1943: 51 destroyer flotilla, Scapa Flow
1943: 23 destroyer flotilla, Scapa Flow
1943: Was involved in sinking the German battleship Scharnhorst on 25 December
1945: Arrived in Tromsø on 16 May to a free country
1946: purchased from the UK
1946: renamed KNM Stord with pennant number j 01
1950: New pennant number D 300, and new paint
1954: Ground support at Haugsholmen lighthouse north of Stad 4 September
1959: Scrapped in Belgium
BACKGROUND
It was not a matter of course that Norway would build up its own naval defense organization in England in 1940. The 13 Norwegian vessels that had arrived in England when the fighting in Norway was given up were in rather poor condition. and the personnel strength was very limited. in addition, the British were initially skeptical of the Norwegian ability and willingness to continue the resistance struggle at sea. Eventually, however, the British realized that this suspicion was unfounded. with their growing confidence in the Norwegian navy, their willingness to hand over warships to the Norwegian authorities also increased. According to a preliminary agreement of July 1940, which was formalized with the Military Agreement of 28 May 1941, it was assumed that the vessels Norway took over were to be manned by Norwegian naval personnel. of operational and command-related conditions, it was naturally agreed that they should form part of British forces, but they should fly the Norwegian flag. at the outset, MA did not want British commanders to be subordinated to Norwegian commanders, but this too was relaxed. it was also a prerequisite that the vessels were to be made available to Norway without attachments, fully equipped, and that the operation and operating expenses were to be a Norwegian responsibility. this is how Norway came to build up a significant navy in Great Britain. together with the Norwegian merchant fleet, it garnered great honor for its efforts, and it formed the foundation of the Norwegian navy after the war.
STORD
Just before the destroyer G"& was to take command of the British Navy, as one of the fleet’s 8 “fleet destroyers” of the “S-class” in August 1943, the British Admiralty decided that it should instead become a new Norwegian-operated vessel. The background may have had been that the Norwegian manned escort destroyer Eskdale of the Hunt class had been lost in battle in the English Channel in April 43, with the loss of 25 men. The G26 was not to directly replace Eskdale, but both the commander of Eskdale, Captain Lieutenant Storheill, and the ship’s crew had expressed a strong desire to continue the fight together. These also came to form the foundation of the new fighter. G26 was to have been named Sucsess in British service. with the Norwegian takeover it was given the name His Majesty’s Ship Stord. Stord took command of the shipyard in Vrowes on the Isle of Wight 26 August 1943. the number 26 was to show itself and be particularly large, which was also called Lucky 26. with relatively high speed and reasonably good capacity both against surface vessels, submarines and aircraft was it well suited for escort service
THE MURMANSK CONVOYS AND THE SINKING OF THE SCHARNHORST
The Allies saw it as crucially important that the Soviet Union was able to maintain a strong Eastern front against the Germans. In the autumn of 1943, they had already for a long time followed the strategy of sending merchant ships in convoy to Murmansk, with a strong escort of warships. The Germans had gradually become very aware of this danger and they therefore placed great emphasis on threatening the convoys, both through their large submarine fleet, their air forces from bases in Norway and with the large battleships Tirpitz and Scharnorst.
Stord entered “the 51st Destroyer Flotilla” (later 23rd Destroyer Flotilla) which was part of the Horne Fleet. there it quickly entered the hard and dangerous escort service from Scotland to Murmansk, together with forces transferred from “the western approach”. The northbound convoys were called J.W (plus number) and at this time were often divided into two groups, a and b, while the southbound were called R.A. On the way back from Stord’s second convoy to the Kolafjord in December 1943 (J.W.55A), the Allies were particularly looking to lure the battleship Scharnorst. Tirpitz was damaged after attack by mini-submarines in September 1943, and the cruiser Lutzov was sent to Germany for repairs. It was therefore a favorable opportunity to also get rid of Scharnorst, especially because you could combine the escort from J.W 55B with the recruit card of J.W 55A, i.e. R.A 55. Without going into particular detail here about the well-known saw that spread north-east of the North Cape in 1943, it should be mentioned that Stord with its 8 torpedoes made a significant contribution. Incidentally, Stord was the one of the destroyers that came closest to Scharnorst (approx. 1,600 meters) before they fired their torpedoes. in Stord’s manskapa newspaper there was later an issue of this with a drawing, where the boatman stands ready with fenders on the ground and shouts that they must be careful with the paint. more serious it was of course that bere 36 of Scharnorst about 1850 men’s crew survived!!!. Stord was not hit, but lost one man from the torpedo crew who was washed overboard.
Admiral Fraser, who was in charge of the operation, then also ended the following telegram to the British Admiralty: “please convey to the commander in Chief Norwegian Navy. Stord played a very daring role in the fight and i am very proud of her”.
OPERATION NEPTUNE
For a few more months, Stord was involved in escorting convoys to Kola. Gradually, greater emphasis was placed on planning the invasion of Normandy. there, the destroyers were to both form an escort for the other vessels and at the same time themselves have a role as a platform for the planned and important use of the vessel’s guns against targets on land, which was a relatively proven concept. in the spring of 1944, Stord took part in the very realistic exercises in the north of the Orkney Islands, where they fired on their own forces with live ammunition and actually leveled an entire town. in operation Neptun, which was the name of the maritime part of the landing, Stord, together with her sister ship Svenner, was to form part of bombardment force “D” in the easternmost of the three British sectors (sword). the allied force encountered unexpectedly little resistance during the crossing, but precisely Swoed was particularly exposed to German guns in addition to German naval forces at Le Havre. There was also a small force of torpedo boats from here Svenner, somewhat coincidentally, was sunk an hour before the attack began. at 06:22, about 45 minutes before the planned disembarkation, Stord opened fire with its 120mm guns. The Allies had good information about the German positions and Stord’s primary objective was a cannon position at the mouth of the Caen canal. Stord fired what straps and cloth could hold for just over two hours, when the landing craft had arrived. according to the battery commander, later admiral and author Nils Owren, no less than 1,533 shells had been fired at land during this period. “Hortensmann” Owren, who was honored for his efforts, was for all his years a faithful friend of the Marine Museum. There, in his later years, he was based in the Stord cell, where he shared his experience with the Sunday guests
LAST PHASE
After Operation Neptun, Stord resumed its escort service, primarily in Murmansk. During this period, the later Admiral Bård Helle was one of 12 new cadet cadets from the Naval Academy on board. he has since spoken about both the burdens and joys of the service. on the happy side, he has highlighted, among other things, that during the war, Norway adopted the British custom of daily distribution of a “room tot” at 12:00
On 7 May, Stord was sent to Rosyth. even though Grand Admiral Dønitz had already ordered the cessation of hostilities by German submarines on 4 May, Stord had almost met his fate on this very day. Submarine 2336, which reportedly had not received this order, was unable to get into attack position due to Stord’s high speed. Instead, its last engagement involved two outward-bound merchant ships, of which the Norwegian D/S Sneland lost six men. Stord took up the pursuit, but was not allowed to attack the submarine. however, they reached Rosyth in time for the crew to take part in the well-deserved “victory europe day” celebration in Edingburgh on 8 May.
Stord was sent to Tromsø on 16 May. with was Admiral E.C Danielsen, who was to arrange the formal surrender of German troops in Northern Norway. The necessary papers were signed in the commander’s cabin on 17 May itself. and Stord signed off with a 17 May salute with 21 sharp shots! during Norway’s stay, Stord also made a trip to Bjørnøya with researchers and some soldiers, to mark Norwegian sovereignty over the island. The trip then went back to Scotland one last time to follow the cruiser HMS Norfolk with the king back to Oslo on 7 June
During the war years, the navy’s crew strength had grown from about 400 in June 1940 to about 7,500 by the end of the war, about half of whom served at sea. the number of warships had in the same period increased from 13 to 51 effective combat units. At the same time, the navy had lost 27 vessels and around 1,000 men. however, we had gained a basis for a strong Norwegian navy after the war, and we had turned the original British skepticism into a close and lasting relationship of cooperation and trust
AFTER THE WAR
After the war, Stord, together with several of the other “Norwegian” warships, was formally bought from the British, and in this first period Stord was, in a way, the flagship. it was also Stord that had the honor of having King Haakon on board during two jubilant voyages along the coast in 1946. Later, Stord was also used as a school ship for students from the Naval Corps, with several high-profile trips abroad. However, it was characterized by the hard war effort and was therefore for periods in circulation in Horten. After a grounding at Haugsholmen in 1954, it was really over. Command was canceled for the last time on 7 September 1957. The vessel was later sold to Belgium for scrapping, and by a kind of irony of fate, it was a German tug that picked up the vessel at Karljohansvern on a May day in 1959
the crew of Stord built a model of this vessel
VIDEOS/WAR FOOTAGE
PICTURES AND IMPORTANT DETAILS
Spoiler
SOURCES
Spoiler
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
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2347286451/media
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Til_Dovre_Faller
Warthunder_Norway