Trygg class torpedo boat

All three Trygg class torpedo boats at some point before the Second World War.
Class overview
Builders: Moss Verft in Moss (Trygg)
and Horten naval yard (Snøgg and Stegg)
Operators: Royal Norwegian Navy
Preceded by: 2. class torpedo boat
Succeeded by: No further torpedo boat classes in the Royal Norwegian Navy
In service: 31 May 1919 24 June 1949
In commission: 31 May 1919
Completed: Trygg, Snøgg and Stegg
Active: 3
Lost: 3
General characteristics
Displacement:256 tons[1]
Length:53.00 m (173.88 ft)
Beam:5.50 m (18.04 ft)
Draught:1.58 m (5.18 ft)
Propulsion:3,600 shp oil fuelled steam turbine
Speed:25 knots (46 km/h)
Complement:33 (? officers and ? ratings)
Armament:As built:
2 × 76 mm guns
1 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA gun
2 × double 45 cm torpedo tubes

The Trygg class was the third and last class of torpedo boats to be built for the Royal Norwegian Navy. The three Trygg ships were constructed from 1919 to 1921 at Moss Verft in Moss (Trygg) and Horten naval yard (Snøgg and Stegg).

Though much larger and better armed than its predecessors, the cigar-shaped 1. and 2. class torpedo boats, the Trygg class was far from modern when it was called upon during the Norwegian Campaign in 1940.

The class was named after its first ship, the Trygg - "trygg" is Norwegian for rugged, safe, stable, secure, dependable.[2]

Capabilities

The Trygg class had a fairly substantial armament for being small ships of relatively early design. Each carried two 76 mm main guns, an Oerlikon 20mm autocannon for anti-aircraft defence, as well as two twin 45 cm torpedo tubes. Combined with a reasonable speed of 25 knots (46 km/h) and excellent manoeuvrability this enabled the Trygg class vessels to operate effectively both in cooperation with other naval units and on their own. Their operations were however limited mostly to coastal waters as they were not very seaworthy or stable platforms, having been constructed for operations close to land.[3] In the fighting that followed the German invasion on 9 April 1940 the Trygg class would see first line action as these ships were often all that was available to the Norwegian forces.

In 1932, the Norwegian Labour Party made public a proposal crafted by Fredrik Monsen, that the armed forces be dissolved entirely and replaced by a "civil guard". The civil guard would include 18 Trygg class vessels, with the armament of two 76 mm main guns and two twin 45 cm torpedo tubes retained.[4] Olaf Kullmann and Erik Anker Steen had contributed to the "civil guard" concept with advice from a naval perspective.[5]

Fates

All three Trygg vessels were lost during the Second World War, one while in Norwegian service and two after having been pressed into service as Torpedoboot Ausland[6] by their German captors.

The German names for Trygg and Snøgg were basically word play, especially when seen together: Zick and Zack means 'Zigzag' in German.[13]

Notes

  1. Abelsen 1986: 168-170
  2. "Trygg". Webster's Online Dictionary. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  3. Johannesen 1988: 84
  4. Ørvik 1960: 128–129
  5. Ørvik 1960: 130
  6. Emmerich, Michael. "Torpedoboote Ausland". German Naval History. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  7. Abelsen 1988: 170
  8. Sivertsen 1999: 6162
  9. Emmerich, Michael. "Zick". German Naval History. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Abelsen 1988: 168
  11. Emmerich, Michael. "Zack". German Naval History. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Abelsen 1988: 169
  13. "Zick Zack". Beolingus. Chemnitz University of Technology. Retrieved 5 February 2009.

Bibliography