HNoMS Stegg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 HNoMS Trygg - HNoMS Stegg's sister ship |
|
| Career (Norway) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Stegg |
| Builder: | Horten Naval shipyard |
| Launched: | 16 June 1921 |
| Decommissioned: | 20 April 1940 |
| Struck: | 24 June 1949 |
| Fate: | Destroyed in battle with Kriegsmarine units at Herøysund, Uskedal, 20 April 1940 Formally stricken and sold for scrapping 24 June, 1949. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Trygg class |
| Displacement: | 256 tons [1] |
| Length: | 53 metres (173.88 ft) |
| Beam: | 5.5 metres (18.04 ft) |
| Draft: | 1.58 metres (5.18 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 3,600 hp steam engine |
| Speed: | 25 knots (46.30 km/h) |
| Complement: | 33 men |
| Armament: | 2 x 76 mm guns 1 x 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun 4 x 45 cm torpedo tubes |
The last of the Trygg class of Royal Norwegian Navy torpedo boats was HNoMS Stegg. Her sister ships were HNoMS Trygg and HNoMS Snøgg. The Trygg class vessels were the only additions to the Norwegian fleet of torpedo boats between the First and the Second World Wars. At the outbreak of World War II the Trygg class was mobilised together with eight 2. class and six 1. class torpedo boats.
Stegg was constructed at Horten Naval shipyard and had build number 111.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Name
She was named after the Stegg, the Norwegian term for the male grouse.
[edit] World War Two
[edit] 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 5,295 ton Cläre Hugo Stinnes[3] on 12 April 1940 and then the 6,567 ton iron ore laden Afrika [4] five days later. Together with the 1. class torpedo boat HNoMS Sæl Stegg escorted the Afrika to the port of Odda the same day she was captured.[5] The German crews were held as POWs by Norwegian land forces.
Cläre Hugo Stinnes was used by the Norwegian forces from 14 April as the depot ship of the Hardangerfjord naval air group in Eidfjord.[6] The two captured ships were later to become the centres of battles at Kinsarvik (Cläre Hugo Stinnes) and Ulvik (Afrika). Afrika, having been captured on her way from Narvik to Germany, ended up being scuttled by her Norwegian captors in the heat of battle at Ulvik,[7] while Cläre Hugo Stinnes survived an unsuccessful Kriegsmarine attempted recapture at Kinsarvik and was eventually released with her 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 engagement 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 main gun. However, for Stegg the war was over, as the fire on board 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] References
- ^ Abelsen 1986: 169
- ^ Horten municipal archive of local history: Build numbers at Horten Yard (Norwegian)
- ^ MS Cläre Hugo Stinnes I (German)
- ^ Bakkevig, Erik: Shipwrecks off Bergen (Norwegian)
- ^ Hegland & Lilleheim 1998: 57
- ^ Norwegian naval aviation in 1940 website (Norwegian)
- ^ Divenorway.com: Wrecks in Western Norway - SS Afrika
[edit] Literature
- Abelsen, Frank: Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945, Sem & Stenersen AS, Oslo 1986 ISBN 82-7046-050-8 (English)/(Norwegian)
- 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 (Norwegian)
- Hegland, Jon Rustung & Lilleheim, Johan Henrik: Norske torpedobåter gjennom 125 år, Sjømilitære Samfund ved Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjøvesen, Hundvåg 1998 ISBN 82-994738-1-0
