TYPE: Minesweeper
BUILDING SITE: Weaver, Orange, USA
CLASS: Orkla class minesweeper
NAMES:
1944: MMS 1085
1946: Orkla S23
1946: KNM Orkla S70
1950: KNM Orkla M313
LAUNCHED: 22 April 1944
HOIST NORWEGIAN COMMAND: 27 July 1944
ARMAMENT
2x1 20mm Oerlicon cannons
4x2 .303 Browning Machineguns
Minesweep: LL gear Mk III, SA gear Type A MK III.
TECHNICAL DATA
Displacement Loaded: 408 Metric Tons
Displacement Standard: 255 Metric Tons
Lenght: 42.0 Meter
Width: 8.7 Meter
Depth: 3.5 Meter
MACHINERY
Mirrlees, Rickertson & Day Ltd. Dieseleigne
Power: 500 IHP
Speed: 10 Knots (18.52 km/h)
Bunkers: 54.6 Metric Tons of diesel oil.
CREW
Estimated crew: 21 Men
ARMOR
Hull material: Wooden
TIMELINE OF IMPORTANT EVENTS
1944: Launched the 22 of April
1944: Hoist Norwegian command the 27th of July
1944: Transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy on 27 July with new name MMS 1085
1944: 1 Minesweeper Division, Dundee
1945: Sailed to Norway on 15 May 1945
1946: Purchased from Great Britain
1946: New name for Orkla me dpennant number S23
1946: New name for KNM Orkla with pennant number S70
1947: Kommandø retired and the ship laid up in Trondheim
1950: New pennant number M313
1951: Transferred to the Ministry of Social Affairs and converted to a display vessel at Stord Verft on 13 January
1968: Returned to the Norwegian Navy
1969: Taken over by Sjøheimevern area 122’s support association
1970: Used as a target vessel for testing Penguin anti-ship missiles
1972: Shot to fire outside Jæren and sold as scrap
HISTORY
MMS means “Motorminesweeper”
When the Government, in Tromsø on 3 June, decided to give up fighting in Norway, the remaining Norwegian naval vessels were ordered to Great Britain. Norway built up a new fleet here, mainly consisting of warships that were lent to Norway in accordance with the military agreement with the British. With a Norwegian crew, but subject to allied operational command, this force made a significant war effort. One of the least noticed, but in terms of scope, the largest parts of this effort was the cairn that was carried out by Norwegian minesweepers. The bulk of these were not actual warships, but Norwegian trawlers and whaleboats that were requisitioned and converted into minesweepers. Already among the first ships to come over in June 1940 were six requisitioned guard vessels that were converted into minesweepers. Together with two further converted ships, they operated as the 1st Minesweeper Division on the east side of Scotland. The main station for the Norwegian minesweepers was Dundee and the primary task was to keep the convoy channel from Aberdeen to the entrance of the Forthfjord, the combined sailing routes from this channel, free of mines. During the war, these swept between 2-300 mines. Later, seven of 16 requisitioned whaleboats from South Africa, most from Kosmos, were also converted into minesweepers. They formed minesweeper divisions based in Plymouth and Falmouth. There were even more.
The Orkla class
The development of magnetic and acoustic mines at the beginning of the war also led to the need for other types of minesweeping. As a countermeasure for magnetic mines, a so-called LL-sweep was developed, based on the fact that towed electric cables should produce such a strong magnetic field that the mines were triggered, well aft of the minesweeper. As a countermeasure against acoustic mines, the Swedish Navy developed a so-called SA sweep. Using a pneumatic hammer in a conical steel cylinder, towed behind the vessel, it was possible to create both high-frequency and low-frequency sounds which hopefully triggered the acoustic mines. In order to avoid the problems with magnetism from own vessels, a system had been developed to demagnetize the vessels in the best possible way. This so-called degaussing consisted somewhat simplistically of electrical cables around the hull, which by being supplied with a carefully calculated current counteracted the magnetism from the steel hull. The first vessels were 105 feet, and the British built new minesweepers with these, which were further developed in 1942 into the somewhat larger MMS (Motorminesweeper) class. It was 126 feet and was to have both LL and SA sweep. Due to a lack of material, they did not get two axles as the designer had intended, and they thus got a limited manoeuvrability. A total of 96 vessels of this class were built. In the summer/autumn of 1944, Norway took over MMS 1085 and MMS 1086, both of which entered the 1st minesweeper division in Dundee.
After the war, they were formally taken over by Norway (1946). They were given the Norwegian names Orkla and Vefsna and for a few years they served as minesweepers. One of the major national projects of the post-war period was the fight against tuberculosis, and in this context, screen photography was a necessary measure. For this purpose, both Orkla and Vefsna were lent to the Ministry of Social Affairs, which rebuilt them
for on-screen vessels and used them actively in the 1950s and parts of the 1960s. After handover, Orkla was for a time used by the Norwegian Maritime Guard, before ending its days as a target vessel for Penguin shooting in 1972.
ALBUM
Spoiler
SOURCES
Spoiler
Redirecting...
90 år under rent norsk orlogsflagg - Deichman.no
Norske marinefartøy - samtlige norske marinefartøy 1814-2008 og marinens flygevåpen 1912-1944 | ARK Bokhandel
https://www.krigsseilerregisteret.no/skip/910679
- Yes
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