Coastal Defence Ships of Norway - World War II Coastal Defence Ships of Norway, Hnoms Eidsvold, Hnoms Norge, Hnoms Tordenskjold (Paperback)

Chapters: World War Ii Coastal Defence Ships of Norway, Hnoms Eidsvold, Hnoms Norge, Hnoms Tordenskjold, Hnoms Harald Haarfagre. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 20. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: HNoMS Eidsvold, or Panserskipet Eidsvold in Norwegian, was a coastal defence ship and the lead ship of her class, serving in the Royal Norwegian Navy. Built by Armstrong Whitworth at Newcastle on Tyne in 1899, she was obsolete when sunk by German torpedoes in Narvik harbour on 9 April 1940 during the German invasion of Norway (Operation Weserubung). Eidsvold was built as part of the general rearmament in the time leading up to the political events in 1905, and remained, along with her sister ship Norge, the backbone of the Royal Norwegian Navy for just over 40 years. She was named after the town of Eidsvold, the site of the drafting and signing of the Norwegian Constitution on 17 May 1814. Considered to be quite powerful ships for their time, with two 21 cm (8.26 inch) guns as their main armament, they were soon outclassed by the new Dreadnought battleships. They were armoured to withstand battle with ships of a similar class to their own, with 6 inches (15.24 cm) of Krupp cemented armour in the belt and 9 inches (22.86 cm) of the same armour on her two turrets. Eidsvold and Norge were the largest vessels in the Royal Norwegian Navy at 4,233 tons gross and crews of up to 270 men. It was intended to augment the Norwegian Panserskip fleet with the two ships of the Bjorgvin class, ordered in 1912, but after these were confiscated by the British Royal Navy at the outbreak of World War I, the Eidsvold class and the older, two ship strong, Tordenskjold class was forced to soldier on long after they were obsolete. In the morning of 9 April, 1940, German forces entered Narvik harbour under cov...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=222562