HNoMS ''Svenner'' was a

Royal Norwegian Navy The Royal Norwegian Navy ( no, Sjøforsvaret, , Sea defence) is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for naval operations of Norway. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 in mobilized state, ...

destroyer during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. She was built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

as the S-class destroyer HMS ''Shark'' but on completion was lent to the Norwegian Armed Forces in exile. ''Svenner'' was sunk off Sword, one of the Allied landing zones in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, at dawn on 6 June 1944 while supporting the British Army

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

Description

''Svenner'' displaced at

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

load and at

deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...

. She had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

of , a beam 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 Washingt ...

geared steam turbines, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

, using steam provided by two Admiralty three-drum boilers. The turbines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . ''Svenner'' carried a maximum of of fuel oil that gave her a range of at . Her complement was 170 officers and ratings. The ship was armed with four 45-

calibre In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore match ...

4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark XII guns in dual-purpose mounts. For anti-aircraft (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. She was fitted with two above-water quadruple mounts for torpedoes. Two depth charge 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 A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of s ...

, either or of the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla operating out of

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

, that managed to get within firing range. ''Svenner'' was the only Allied 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, 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