HNoMS Stegg
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|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | ? |
| Laid down: | ? |
| Launched: | 16 June 1921 |
| Commissioned: | ? |
| Fate: | Destroyed by German armed whaler Schiff 221 while docked at Herøysund, Uskedal, 20 April 1940 Formally stricken and sold for scrapping 24 June, 1949. |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 256 tons |
| Dimensions: | 53.00m x 5.50m x 1,58m |
| Armament: | 2 x 76 mm guns, 2 x 2 torpedo tubes. |
| Propulsion: | 3,600 shp, 25 knots |
| Crew: | 33 |
The last of the Trygg class of Royal Norwegian Navy torpedo boats was HNoMS Stegg. Her sisterships were HNoMS Trygg and HNoMS Snøgg. The Trygg class was the only additions to the Norwegian fleet of torpedo boats between the First and the Second World Wars. At the outbreak of the Second World War the Trygg class was mobilised together with eight 2. class and six 1. class torpedo boats.
Stegg was build number 111 at Horten Naval shipyard.
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[edit] Norwegian campaign
[edit] The Stegg captures two German merchants
The Stegg had a brief and intense period of service in the Norwegian campaign after the German invasion of Norway. When the invasion came on 9 April 1940 she was anchored at Skudeneshavn and commanded by lieutenant H. M. Hansen . She entered the Hardangerfjord on 10 April 1940 and quickly captured two German merchant ships; first the 5295 ton Cläre Hugo Stinnes on 12 April 1940 and then the Afrika a few days later. The German crews were held as POWs by Norwegian land forces. The two captured ships were later to become the centres of battles at Kinsarvik (Cläre Hugo Stinnes) and Ulvik (Afrika). Afrika ended up being scuttled by its Norwegian captors in the heat of battle at Ulvik, while Cläre Hugo Stinnes survived an unsuccesful Kriegsmarine attempted recapture at Kinsarvik and was eventually released with its crew on 2 May 1940 as the resistance in southern Norway collapsed. On her way to Bergen the Cläre Hugo Stinnes was attacked by the RN submarine HMS Trident and damaged by gunfire.
[edit] Final battle
The end for Stegg came on 20 April 1940 as she was anchored at Herøysund. In the morning the artillery training ship Bremse and the armed whaler Schiff 221 blocked the Stegg in the fjord and attacked her. Early on in the engament two 57 mm shells from Schiff 221 hit Stegg in the bow, set her ablaze and caused water to start flooding the small torpedo boat. The heavier shells of the Bremse meanwhile failed to find their target and the burning Stegg returned fire against the Schiff 221, hitting the whaler twice with her 76 mm cannon. However, for Stegg the war was over, as the fire onboard got out of control and her crew had to abandon ship. Soon the fire reached the Stegg's torpedoes and ammunition hold and the ship went up in a large explosion. The entire bow of the ship disappeared and the Stegg sank slowly to the bottom of the fjord. The crew got away without serious injuries, despite being bombarded by the two German warships as they fled inland.
[edit] Name
She was named after the Stegg, the Norwegian term for the male grouse.
[edit] Source
- Abelsen, Frank: Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945, Sem & Stenersen AS, Oslo 1986 ISBN 82-7046-050-9
