HNoMS Tordenskjold

Tordenskjold in 1900
History
Norway
Name	Tordenskjold
Namesake	Peter Tordenskjold
Ordered	1896
Laid down	1897
Launched	18 March 1897
Commissioned	21 March 1898
Captured	by the Germans in 1940
Nazi Germany
Name	Nymphe
Acquired	1940
Fate	Handed back to Norway after VE Day
Norway
Name	Tordenskjold
Acquired	1945
Fate	Scrapped 1948
General characteristics as built
Class and type	Tordenskjold-class coastal defence ship
Displacement	3,858 long tons (3,920 t)
Length	92.66 m (304 ft 0 in)
Beam	14.78 m (48 ft 6 in)
Draught	5.38 m (17 ft 8 in)
Propulsion	Coal-fired reciprocating steam engines, 4,500 hp (3,356 kW)
Speed	16.9 knots (31.3 km/h; 19.4 mph)
Complement	245
Armament	2 × 21 cm (8 in)/45 guns 6 × 12 cm (5 in)/45 guns 6 × 7.6 cm (3 in)/40 guns 6 × 1-pounder QF guns 2 × 45 cm (18 in) submerged torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt : 7 in (178 mm) Turrets : 8 in (203 mm)
General characteristics after German rebuild
Displacement	3,858 long tons (3,920 t)
Length	92.66 m (304 ft 0 in)
Beam	14.78 m (48 ft 6 in)
Draught	5.38 m (17 ft 8 in)
Propulsion	Coal-fired reciprocating steam engines, 4,500 hp (3,356 kW)
Speed	16.9 knots (31.3 km/h; 19.4 mph)
Complement	245
Armament	6 × 10.5 cm AA guns 2 × 40 mm AA guns 14 × 20 mm AA guns[1]
Armour	Belt : 7 in (178 mm) Turrets : 8 in (203 mm)

HNoMS Tordenskjold, known locally as Panserskipet Tordenskjold, was a Norwegian coastal defence ship. She, her sister ship, Harald Haarfagre, and the slightly newer Eidsvold class were built as a part of the general rearmament in the time leading up to the events in 1905. Tordenskjold remained an important vessel in the Royal Norwegian Navy until she was considered unfit for war in the mid-1930s.

Description

Models of the coastal defence ship Tordenskiold and Eidsvold. Tordenskjold in the front.

Built at Elswick[2] and nearly identical to her sister ship Harald Haarfagre, Tordenskjold was named after Peter Wessel Tordenskjold, an eminent Norwegian naval hero in the service of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway. Built as a typical pre-dreadnought battleship on a small scale, she carried guns of a wide range of calibers: two 8.2-inch (210 mm) guns in barbettes, six 4.7-inch (120 mm), six 3-inch (76 mm), and six smaller quick-firing guns. The ship could manage a speed of over 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Protected by belt armor of 7 inches (180 mm) thickness, the ship also featured gun barbettes with nearly 8 inches (200 mm) of steel armor and an armored deck.[3]

Service history and fate

A vital part of the Royal Norwegian Navy, Tordenskjold performed ordinary duties until 1918, when she was turned into a cadet ship. She performed well in this role, carrying out eighteen training cruises until considered "unfit for war" in the mid-1930s. After the German invasion of Norway, she was seized by the Germans and rebuilt as a floating flak battery with 10.5 cm AA guns and renamed Nymphe. In May, 1945 she was damaged by RAF aircraft at Svolvaer and beached. She was refloated later in the year. After the war Tordenskjold was used briefly as a floating barracks before she was sold for scrapping in 1948.

In German service as a flakship in 1940, renamed Nymphe.

It was intended to augment the Norwegian coastal defence ship fleet with the two ships of the Bjørgvin-class, ordered in 1912, but after these were confiscated by the Royal Navy at the outbreak of World War I the Tordenskjold class and the slightly newer, two ship Eidsvold class were forced to soldier on long after they were obsolete.

Today

Today the name KNM Tordenskjold is used on the Norwegian Naval Training Establishment (NORNAVTRAINEST) at Haakonsvern, Bergen.

• 
  The anchor of Tordenskjold (2007)
• 
  Plans of panserskipet Tordenskjold.
• 
  Note heavy guns in turrets fore and aft, and secondary armament in central battery.

Footnotes

1. Abelsen, Frank (1986). Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945 (in Norwegian and English). Oslo: Sem & Stenersen AS. p. 290. ISBN 82-7046-050-8.
2. Keltie, J.S., ed. (1900). The Statesman's Year Book: Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1900. New York: MacMillan. p. 1066.
3. Keltie 1900, p. 1066.

Bibliography

• Dodson, Aidan & Nottlemann, Dirk (2023). "The German Flak Ships, Part I: The German and ex-Norwegian Hulls". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2023. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 112–127. ISBN 978-1-4728-5713-2.