HNoMS Haakon VII (A537) at Washington, D.C., just after departing the Washington Navy Yard on 9 March 1970. |
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| Career (Norway) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HNoMS Haakon VII |
| Namesake: | King Haakon VII of Norway |
| Builder: | Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington |
| Laid down: | 14 March 1944 |
| Launched: | 2 December 1944 |
| Completed: | February 1945 |
| Acquired: | 17 May 1958 |
| Struck: | 1974 |
| Fate: | Discarded 1974 |
| Notes: | Served as United States Navy seaplane tender USS Gardiners Bay (AVP-39) 1945-1958 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Training ship |
| Displacement: | 1,766 tons (standard) 2,800 tons (full load) |
| Length: | 310 ft 9 in (94.72 m) overall; 300 ft 0 in (91.44 m) waterline |
| Beam: | 41 ft 2 in (12.55 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) (maximum) |
| Installed power: | 6,080 brake horsepower (4.54 megawatts) |
| Propulsion: | Two Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines, two shafts |
| Speed: | 18.2 knots (33.7 km/h) |
| Complement: | 215 ship's company plus 86 officer cadets and petty officer apprentices 367 total accommodation |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Radar |
| Armament: | 1 x 127 mm (5-inch) 38-caliber gun mount 10 x 40 mm antiaircraft guns 2 x 20 mm antiaircraft guns |
HNoMS Haakon VII (A537) (in Norwegian, KNM Haakon VII (A537)) was a Royal Norwegian Navy training ship in commission from 1958 to 1974.
Contents |
Haakon VII was built as the United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender USS Gardiners Bay (AVP-39) at Houghton, Washington, by the Lake Washington Shipyard. commissioned on 11 February 1945, she served in the Central Pacific during the final months of World War II, and continued to serve in the Western Pacific and East Asia until 1958, including four tours of duty in the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. She was decommissioned on 1 February 1958
Gardiners Bay was transferred to Norway on 17 May 1958. After undergoing conversion and rearming, she was commissioned into the Royal Norwegian Navy as the training ship HNoMS Haakon VII.
Conducting naval cadet training cruises, Haakon VII visited ports all over the world during her 16 years of Royal Norwegian Navy service.
Haakon VII was stricken and disposed of in 1974.