HNoMS Frøya

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Career
Frøya as built. Frøya before the war.
Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched:	1916
Commissioned:	July 1 1918
Fate:	Scuttled April 13 1940
General characteristics
Displacement:	870 or 595 tons (sources disagree)
Dimensions:	75.3 m x 8.2 m x 2.8 m
Armament:	As built: 4 x 10 cm (4 inch) guns 2 x 46 cm torpedo tubes Mines Added later: 1 x 76 mm (3 inch) gun
Propulsion:	7000 hp ( Kw), 21.8 knop ( km/h, mph)
Crew:	78

The minelayer HNoMS Frøya was built for the Royal Norwegian Navy by the Naval yard in Horten during World War I. A fast ship for her time, she was kept in service until the German invasion in 1940. At some point between her commission and 1940, a 76 mm gun was added to her armaments.

1 Frøya and the invasion
2 The wreck today
3 Name
4 See also
5 Source
6 References
7 External links

[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 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 12.30 hrs fired explosive charges, demolishing her. Shortly after being scuttled the wreck of Frøya was discovered by kapitanleutnant Wilhelm Rollmann of the German uboat U-34. As the submarine captain believed her still to be salvageable for the Norwegians the uboat torpedoed the Frøya, cutting the already wrecked minelayer in two.