HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen OPV
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 The Fridtjof Nansen at sea |
|
| Career (Norway) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Fridtjof Nansen |
| Builder: | Royal Norwegian Naval Yard at Horten |
| Launched: | 5 November 1930 |
| Commissioned: | 29 May 1931 |
| Decommissioned: | 8 November 1940 |
| Fate: | Ran aground on an unmarked shallow and sank outside Jan Mayen 8 November 1940 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1,275 tons |
| Length: | 72.8 metres (238.85 ft) |
| Beam: | 10.5 metres (34.45 ft) |
| Draft: | 5.7 metres (18.70 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2000 hp Lenz steam engine, 2 shafts |
| Speed: | 15 knots (27.78 km/h) |
| Range: | 7,000 nautical miles (12,964.00 km) |
| Complement: | 70 men |
| Armament: | 2 × 10 cm (4 inch) guns 2 × 47 mm (1.85 inch) automatic guns |
HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen was the first ship in the Norwegian armed forces to be built specially to perform coast guard and fishery protection duties in the Arctic. Command was assumed 29 May 1931 by Commander Ole A. Blom.[1] She was constructed with build number 118 at the Royal Norwegian Naval Yard at Horten.[2]
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[edit] Name
She was named after Fridtjof Nansen - the great Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
[edit] 1933 sinking
On 21 December 1933 Fridtjof Nansen departed the port of Hammerfest on her way to her patrol areas in eastern Finnmark. While passing through Vestervågen in Måsøy she ran aground and sank the next night. She was raised the next year and taken to Horten for repairs.[3]
[edit] War service
[edit] Norwegian Campaign
At the outbreak of war with the German invasion of Norway 9 April 1940, Fridtjof Nansen was posted to the Finnmark detachment of the 3rd Naval District covering North Norway.[4]
[edit] In exile
After surviving several air attacks without damage during the Norwegian Campaign Fridtjof Nansen was one of the thirteen Royal Norwegian Navy vessels that made it to the UK, as she escaped westwards at the dawn of the 10 June 1940 mainland Norwegian capitulation. On 8 June 1940 she took on board in Tromsø Rear Admiral Henry E. Diesen and foreign minister Halvdan Koht in addition to some other refugees.[5]
She arrived at Tórshavn on the Faroe Islands on 13 June and later sailed to the United Kingdom where she was made war ready.[5]
From 29 August 1940 she was posted as a patrol vessel in Iceland to reinforce the British naval forces there. On 8 November she ran on an unmarked shallow outside the Norwegian Arctic island of Jan Mayen and sank. The crew of 67 was all saved.[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Sivertsen 2001: 126
- ^ Lokalhistorisk arkiv i Horten kommune: Build number at Horten naval yard (Norwegian)
- ^ Sivertsen 2001: 260
- ^ Administrative order of the Royal Norwegian Navy's third district, 8 April 1940
- ^ a b c Sivertsen 2001: 139
[edit] Sources
- Abelsen, Frank: Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945, Sem & Stenersen AS, Oslo 1986, ISBN 82-7046-050-8 (English)/(Norwegian)
- Sivertsen, Svein Carl (ed.): Sjøforsvaret dag for dag 1814-2000, Sjømilitære Samfund ved Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjøvesen, Hundvåg 2001 ISBN 82-92217-03-7 (Norwegian)
- Naval history via FLIX: Fridtjof Nansen, retrieved 17 March 2006 (English)
