HNoMS Veslegut - Requisitioned whaler armed for service as Patrol vesel

Til_Dovre_Faller · October 26, 2024, 5:19pm

HNoMS VESLEGUT

TYPE: Patrol vessel/Whaler
BUILDING SITE: Framnæs mekaniske verksted, Sandefjord
PREVIOUS NAMES: Almirante Goni
LAUNCHED: January 1912
REQUISITIONED: Autumn 1939
IN COMMAND: 1939 - 09-04.1940
OWNER: A/S Blomvaag Hval, Bergen

ARMAMENT

Spoiler

1x 76mm cannon
-Armored shield: Proably 3-10mm or so
I am not sure about the model, but jugding from the shield/overall compared with other vessel that was requisitioned it looks like an L/40 Armstrong Whitworth Fast Firing cannon

TECHNICAL DATA
Displacement: 168 Gross registered tons
Length: 33.64 Meter
Width: 6.12 Meter
Depth: 3.59 Meter

MACHINERY
1x triple expansion steam eigne
Power: 84 NHP
Speed: 10 Knots (18.52 km/h)

CREW
Estimated crew: 18 men

HISTORY
Veslegut was a whaleboat that was built at Framnæ’s mechanical workshop for Sociedad Ballenera De Mallanges (P.A.de.Bruyne - A.Andersen,Sandar), Punta Arenas, Chile, and the ship was launched in January 1912, then renamed Almirante Goni. In 1916 the ship was sold to l A/S Hektor (N.Bugge), Tønsberg and kept its original name. The tonnage was here adjusted up to 171 gross registered tons, and it was used for whaling South Shetland Island until 1924 was sold to Compania Ballenera Espanola (Lorentz Bruun), Algeciras in Spain. The ship kept its old name until 1925 when the ship was sold again to Winge & Co in Oslo. Here the ship was renamed to the name we know it by today, namely “Veslegut”. The tonnage was here adjusted down to 168 gross registered tonnes. It was used for fishing for quite some time here until 1927 when it was again sold to Hvalfanger-A/S Blomvaag (Leif Bryde), Sandefjord. here it changed a number of owners under the same company, until in 1939 due to the outbreak of war it was leased to the Royal Norwegian Navy to be used as a patrol vessel.

On 9 April 1940, the ship was taken by German forces at Marineholmen without any fighting as far as I can see. The ship was entered into Die Deutsche Kriegsmarine, since renamed RATTE as we can see that they have painted on the bow of the ship. The armament was not changed after this as far as I can see, and must have retained the Norwegian 76mm cannon the ship had installed in 1939. The ship was part of Hafenschutzflotille Bergen with code NB-01 (NB =Norwegen Bergen). The ship got a new code a little later in the year (NB-07) and at the end of the year in December 1940 it changed its place to 55 vorpostenflotille based in Florvåg with the name Vorpostenboot RATTE V-5501.

At the end of the war, the ship was returned to its original owner and was renamed Veslegut again. Skiper lived a long life, and was used for over 100 years! it went through a number of conversions and has served many purposes, from fishing to a well boat. In 2011 it was registered as a listed ship, but unfortunately, for some reason it was cut up in 2019. what a loss. I also want to mention, the name “Veslegut” is kinda cool, its hard to understand for foreigners but directly translated it means “Little boy”, its hard to explain.