HNoMS ''Svenner'' was a Royal Norwegian Navy

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

during the Second World War. She was built for the Royal Navy as the S-class destroyer HMS ''Shark'' but on completion was lent to the Norwegian Armed Forces in exile. ''Svenner'' was sunk off

Sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

, one of the Allied landing zones in Normandy, at dawn on 6 June 1944 while supporting the British Army Normandy landings.

Description

''Svenner'' displaced at standard load and at deep load. She had an overall length of , a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a deep draught of . She was powered by two

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...

geared

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by two

Admiralty three-drum boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, an ...

s. The turbines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . ''Svenner'' carried a maximum of of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

that gave her a range of at . Her complement was 170 officers and ratings. The ship was armed with four 45- calibre 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark XII guns in dual-purpose mounts. For

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

(AA) defence, ''Svenner'' had one twin mount for

Bofors 40 mm gun Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

s and four twin Oerlikon

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bull ...

. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple mounts for torpedoes. Two

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

rails and four throwers were fitted for which 70 depth charges were provided.English, pp. 62–63

Construction and career

The ship was launched on 1 June 1943 as the Royal Navy ship HMS ''Shark'' (G03), but was rechristened HNoMS ''Svenner'' when she was commissioned in the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1944. The ship was hit by two torpedoes fired from one of two German torpedo boats, either or of the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla operating out of Le Havre, that managed to get within firing range. ''Svenner'' was the only

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

ship to be sunk by German naval activity on the morning of 6 June. She was struck amidships, exploded, broke in two and sank very quickly. Casualties were 1 British and 32 Norwegian crewmen killed, and 185 (15 wounded) rescued from the crew of 219. The anchor from ''Svenner'' was recovered in 2003, and now forms 'The Svenner Memorial' at Sword. The memorial can be found approximately 100 yards on the sea-side of the coast road at

Hermanville-sur-Mer Hermanville-sur-Mer () is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region in northwestern France. Population Sig ...

, Normandy, France.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Svenner (G03) S and T-class destroyers Ships built on the River Clyde 1943 ships World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom S-class destroyers of the Royal Norwegian Navy World War II destroyers of Norway World War II shipwrecks in the English Channel Maritime incidents in June 1944