HNoMS Trygg

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Trygg at sea in the prewar years
Career (Norway) Norwegian State Flag
Name: Trygg
Builder: Moss shipyard (hull) and the Royal Norwegian Navy Yard in Horten
Laid down: 1917
Launched: 31 May 1919
Decommissioned: 25 April 1940
Fate: Sunk by RAF de Havilland Mosquitos near Bergen, Norway 23 October 1944.
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: As built:
2 × 76 mm guns
1 × 20 mm Oerlikon
anti-aircraft gun[2]
4 × 45 cm torpedo tubes
In German service:[3]
1 × 76 mm gun
2 x 20 mm guns
2 × machine guns
2 × torpedo tubes

HNoMS Trygg (trygg is Norwegian for safe, secure, dependable) was a torpedo boat of the Royal Norwegian Navy. Her hull was built in Moss and she was finished in Horten, with build number 109.[4] Trygg had two sister ships: HNoMS Snøgg and HNoMS Stegg. Together the three vessels formed the Trygg class of torpedo boats.

Contents

[edit] The Norwegian Campaign

During the Norwegian Campaign Trygg was commanded by Lieutenant Frantz W. Munster and served in an air defence and escort role against the invading Germans outside Molde and Åndalsnes in April 1940 (Battle of Åndalsnes). After surviving numerous air attacks the ship was finally sunk at Åndalsnes 25 April 1940.[5]

As the torpedo boat was anchored up in the harbour the Luftwaffe bombers first attacked and knocked out British AA positions ashore before turning their attention towards the small Norwegian warship. A total of sixteen bombs were dropped against Trygg, one hitting the stern of the ship and passing through without exploding. The damage the bomb caused on its way through Trygg was however too much for her to stay afloat.[6] Although Munster beached his ship before the stern went under, the ship settled on her side and sank in shallow waters the next day.

[edit] German service as the Zick

The ship was salvaged by the Germans, renamed Zick, later renamed again to V.5506 Zick, and served as a Vorpostenboot on the coast of Norway until she was sunk by 21 de Havilland Mosquitos from 235 and 248 Squadrons RAF on 23 October 1944. She was escorting a three-ship convoy in Hjeltefjord near Bergen when the convoy came under attack by 21 Mosquitos firing rockets and autocannons.[7][8]

All three cargo ships in the convoy suffered damage while Zick was blown apart, taking three Germans down with her. Before she was sunk Zick managed to slightly damage two of the attacking aircraft with her anti-aircraft armament.[7]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Abelsen 1986: 170
  2. ^ Sivertsen 1999: 110
  3. ^ German-navy.de on the Zick (English)
  4. ^ Horten municipal archive of local history: Build numbers at Horten Yard (Norwegian)
  5. ^ Sivertsen 2001: 127
  6. ^ Berg 1997: 51
  7. ^ a b Hafsten 1991: 198-199
  8. ^ Erik Bakkevig - books on shipwrecks: List of shipwrecks in the book "Skipsforlis i Bergensleden" (Norwegian)

[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)
  • Hafsten, Bjørn; Larsstuvold, Ulf; Olsen, Bjørn and Stenersen, Sten: "Flyalarm - luftkrigen over Norge 1939-1945", Sem og Stenersen AS, Oslo 1991 ISBN 82-7046-058-3 (Norwegian)
  • Sivertsen, Svein Carl (ed.): Jageren Sleipner i Romsdalsfjord sjøforsvarsdistrikt april 1940, Sjømilitære Samfund ved Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjøvesen, Hundvåg 1999 (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)