HNoMS Sleipner (1937-1959)
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 The Sleipner class destroyer Sleipner at sea in 1937 |
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | |
| Launched: | 7 May 1936 |
| Commissioned: | 1937 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1959 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 597 tons |
| Dimensions: | 74.30 m m x 7.80 m x 2.8 m |
| Armament: | 3 x 10 cm guns 1 x 40 mm anti-aircraft gun 2 x 12.7 mm machine guns 2 x 53.3 cm torpedo tubes Depth charges |
| Propulsion: | 12,500 shp (9.3 MW), 32 knop |
| Crew: | 75 |
The lead Sleipner class destroyer Sleipner was commissioned into the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1937 and would gain legendary status in Norway by enduring over two weeks of intense attack by Luftwaffe bombers after the 9 April 1940 invasion of Norway. After the resistance in southern Norway started unraveling she made her way over the North Sea to continue the fight against the enemy from exile. She was constructed at Horten naval shipyard and had build number 120.
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[edit] Sleipner against the Luftwaffe
The small Norwegian destroyer cooperated with the torpedoboat HNoMS Trygg in supporting Norwegian and allied forces in the Molde - Åndalsnes area. As her job included defending the Allied landings in southern Norway and the city of Molde Sleipner was a prime target of the Luftwaffe's bombers.
Attacked by bombers in Romsdalsfjord on 20 April, Sleipner shot one German bomber down, which crashed into the sea near the island Sekken, and damaged several others with her Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun. Two days later she shot down another bomber, this one crashing at Norvik. The same day she successfully defended horse transports from air attacks.
On 26 April Sleipner was continuously attacked by twelve strafing German bombers and hit numerous times, but without injury to the crew.
By then, however, she had run out of ammunition and had damages that needed repair. In the evening of 26 April she sailed west and arrived at Lerwick in the Shetlands on 27 April.
[edit] Propaganda effect - "the unsinkable ship"
While Sleipner was fighting in the Romsdalsfjord reports of her exploits, many exaggerated, were transmitted to the Norwegian people from radio stations in areas still under Norwegian government control. These reports were important for the morale of the Norwegian people as one of the few beacons of light amongst the many disasters of that spring (see also: Battle of Vinjesvingen and Battle of Hegra Fortress). Although she probably only shot down two German bombers during her service in the Norwegian campaign contemporary news reports spoke of over a dozen enemy planes brought down by guns of the the small warship.
During her service in Romsdalsfjord Sleipner was claimed by the Germans to have been sunk twice. The Luftwaffe would make one more such claim during her service in exile in the UK.
[edit] UK service
For the rest of her war service the Sleipner would escort coastal convoys off the east coast of Britain, escorting 156 convoys before being decommissioned 10 March 1944 and mothballed for the remainder of the war. When she had her main guns exchanged in 1942 the old 10 cm guns were sent to the Norwegian garrison in Svalbard for use as coastal artillery, arriving there 16 October 1942.
[edit] Post-war
In May 1945 Sleipner sailed back to Norway where she continued to be mothballed until her conversion to frigate in 1948.
Sleipner was scrapped in 1959.
[edit] Name
She was named after Sleipnir - Odin's magical eight-legged steed, and the greatest of all horses.
[edit] Sources
- Berg, Ole F.: I skjærgården og på havet - Marinens krig 8. april 1940 - 8. mai 1945, Marinens Krigsveteranforening, Oslo 1997 ISBN 82-993545-2-8
- Abelsen, Frank: Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945, Sem & Stenersen AS, Oslo 1986 ISBN 82-7046-050-9
[edit] See also
| Norwegian destroyers |
| Draug class: Draug, Troll, Garm |
| Sleipner class: Sleipner, Gyller, Æger, Odin, Balder, Tor |
| S class: Svenner, Stord |
| Town class: Lincoln, St Albans, Mansfield, Bath, Newport All Town class vessels was loaned from the Royal Navy |
| C class: Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger |
| Hunt class: Arendal, Haugesund, Tromsø |
Destroyers of the Royal Norwegian Navy |
