HNoMS Frøya
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Frøya as built. Frøya before the war. |
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Career (Norway) | |
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Name: | Frøya |
Builder: | The Royal Norwegian Navy's shipyard in Horten |
Launched: | 20 June 1916 |
Commissioned: | 1 July 1918 |
Decommissioned: | 13 April 1940 |
Fate: | Scuttled 13 April 1940 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement: | 595 tons |
Length: | 75.3 metres (247.05 ft) |
Beam: | 8.2 metres (26.90 ft) |
Draft: | 2.8 metres (9.19 ft) |
Propulsion: | 6000 hp, two triple expansion steam engines |
Speed: | 22 knots (40.74 km/h) |
Complement: | 78 men |
Armament: | As built: 4 × 10 cm (4 in) guns 2 × 46 cm (18.1 in) torpedo tubes 180 mines Added later: 1 × 76 mm (3 in) gun |
The minelayer HNoMS Frøya was built for the Royal Norwegian Navy by the naval shipyard in Horten during World War I, with build number 108.[1] A fast ship for her time, she was kept in service until the German invasion of Norway in 1940. At some point between her commissioning and 1940, a 76 mm gun was added to her armaments. Frøya was the first purpose-built minelayer commissioned into the RNoN.[2]
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[edit] Name
Frøya was named after Freyja, the goddess of fertility in Norse mythology.
[edit] Frøya and the invasion
At the time the Germans invaded Norway Frøya was underway from Finnmark to Horten naval base in the Oslofjord, and on April 8 she anchored at Brekstad harbour at Ørland at the mouth of the Trondheimsfjord. Due to bad weather Captain T. Schrøder-Nielsen was reluctant to cross Hustadvika bay on with the ship's full load of mines and had sought shelter at Brekstad overnight. When, on the morning of 9 April, the German assault came, the crew of the Frøya observed the intruding German warships making their way to Trondheim. Trapped in the fjord, the decision was made to move the minelayer into the nearby Stjørnfjord. In the Stjørnfjord Frøya repeatedly came under attack from both land based artillery and Luftwaffe bombers. On April 13 Captain Schrøder-Nielsen decided all hope was lost and, refusing to let his ship fall into German hands, he ordered her scuttled. After removing some equipment and Frøya's load of mines for possible later use the crew of the Frøya rammed their ship at great speed ashore at Søtvika, openened the ship's valves and at 1230 hrs fired explosive charges, demolishing her. Shortly after being scuttled the wreck of Frøya was discovered by Kapitanleutnant Wilhelm Rollmann of the German u-boat U-34. As the submarine captain believed her still to be salvageable for the Norwegians the u-boat torpedoed the Frøya, ripping the stern off the already wrecked minelayer.
[edit] The wreck today
After she was scuttled, it was still possible to explore the wreck.[3] Even today enough remains to make Frøya an interesting wreck to dive on.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Horten municipal archive of local history: Build numbers at Horten Yard (Norwegian)
- ^ The Royal Norwegian Navy in the month of July: 1 July 1918 (Norwegian)
- ^ Vrakdykking.com: Minelayer Frøya (Norwegian)
- ^ Vrakdykking.com: The wreck of the minelayer Frøya (Norwegian)
[edit] Literature
- Abelsen, Frank: Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945, Sem & Stenersen AS, Oslo 1986 ISBN 82-7046-050-8 (English)&(Norwegian)
[edit] External links
- Naval history via FLIX: Frøya, retrieved 14 March 2006 (English)
- Ships of the Norwegian navy, retrieved 14 March 2006 (English)
- Byggenummer ved Horten verft, retrieved 14 March 2006 (Norwegian)
- Sjøforsvaret dag for dag, Juli, retrieved 14 March 2006 (Norwegian)
- The story of two young boys exploring the wreck shortly after scuttling, with some amazing photos (Norwegian)
- Photos from a dive on the wreck (Norwegian)
- Drawing of Frøya (English)
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