Swedish Coastal Defence Ship Thor
The Swedish Navy first-class coastal defence ship Thor of the Oden-class was built in the late nineteenth century for service within Sweden’s territorial waters and the Baltic Sea. She was ordered from the Bergsunds shipyard in Stockholm and laid down in 1896, launched on 7 March 1898 and commissioned on 29 June 1899. Her namesake was the Norse god of thunder and she represented a continuation of Sweden’s efforts to create heavily armoured vessels suited for coastal defence rather than long-range blue-water operations; the Oden-class comprised three sister ships: Oden, Niord and Thor.
Thor’s displacement was in the mid-3000 tonnes range with a length of about 84.8 metres, a beam of roughly 14.77 metres and a draught around 5.5 metres. She was powered by two triple-expansion steam engines fed by six marine boilers and driving two screws, giving her a top speed of 16 knots and a range of 2,500 nautical miles at economical speed. Her armament consisted of two 25.4 centimetre main guns in single turrets, a number of 12 centimetre secondary guns in casemates, and a suite of smaller rapid-fire weapons typical of the era; armour included a belt 100-240 millimetres thick.
During her career Thor received modernisation between 1914 and 1916 which saw replacement of the fighting mast, consolidation of her funnels and removal of some light weapons and torpedo tube with installation of new boilers. In the First World War she was employed in support of Sweden’s declared neutrality and in 1918 was dispatched to Åland in response to civil unrest and competing claims by German and Russian forces; she was the first Swedish warship to arrive at Eckerö and remained on station until a peaceful settlement was arranged. Outside of this episode her service was uneventful. Thor was decommissioned on 16 July 1937 and subsequently broken up, with dismantling completed around 1942.
| Displacement | 3,328 t (3,275 long tons) (normal) |
|---|---|
| Length | 84.9 m (278 ft 7 in) (w.l.) |
| Beam | 14.77 m (48 ft 5 in) |
| Draught | 5.5 m (18 ft 1 in) (max) |
| Installed power | 6 marine boilerss 5,300 ihp (4,000 kW) |
| Propulsion | 2 × triple-expansion steam engines 2 × screws |
| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Range | 2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 265 |
| Armament | 2 × single 25.4 cm (10.0 in) guns 6 × single 12 cm (4.7 in) guns 10 × single 5.7 cm (2.2 in) guns 1 × single 46 cm (18 in) torpedo tube |
| Armour | Belt: 100–240 mm (3.9–9.4 in)Barbette: 200 mm (7.9 in)Turrets: 190 mm (7.5 in)Deck: 49.5 mm (2 in)Conning tower: 190 mm (7.5 in) |
Photographs of HSwMS Thule
Reference List
Campbell, N J M. Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860-1905
Fleks, Adam. Od Svea Do Drottning Victoria. Okręty Wojenne
Friedman, Norman. Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory
Gard, Bertil and Becker, William A. HSwMS Thor (1898)