HNoMS ''Thor'' was a

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West ...

built for the

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, ...

in 1871, named after the Norse god

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...

. She was decommissioned in 1918, long after her heavy guns were outdated. She was considered an improvement on the ''Skorpionen'' class of monitors, with heavier armour and a wider beam. The earlier monitor ''Mjølner'' was named after Thor's hammer.

Details

''Thor'' was armed with two 10.5 inch rifled muzzle-loading guns in a revolving turret. She had 7 inches of iron armour on her deck, and her turret was protected by 14 inches of iron armour.

Wreck

After decommissioning, ''Thor'' was to be scrapped. On 7 March 1919, while being towed to the scrapyard, the ship was caught in a storm that broke the towing cable, stranding ''Thor'' on an island outside

Verdens Ende Verdens Ende ("World's End", or "The End of the Earth" in NorwegianNickel, Phyllis and Hans Jakob Valderhaug (2017). ''Norwegian Cruising Guide—Vol 2: Sweden, West Coast and Norway, Swedish Border to Bergen''. Attainable Adventure Cruising Ltd. ...

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered t ...

, and killing two crew members. ''Thor'' later sank in shallow water. A salvage operation removed parts of the ship, but the wreck remains largely intact and now lies at a depth of 8 to 14 meters southwest of Verdens Ende.Skovheim.org database entry on ''Thor''
, access date 2 January 2007 ''Thor'' is one of only three accessible monitor vessels in the world, the others being USS ''Monitor'', which lies at about 60 meters some 42 kilometers southeast of

Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina. Long stretches of beach, sand dunes, marshes, and maritime forests create a unique environment where wind and waves shap ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

and HMVS ''Cerberus'', in 5 metres of water in Victoria, Australia.

Notable crew

Johan Oscar Smith Johan Oscar Smith (October 11, 1871 – May 1, 1943) was a Norwegian Christian leader who founded the evangelical non-denominational fellowship now known as Brunstad Christian Church. Early life and career Smith was born in Fredrikstad, Norway an ...

, founder of Brunstad Christian Church served as a gunnery officer on ''Thor'' in 1898.

References

Naval History via Flix: KNM ''Thor''
access date 16 January 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thor Monitors of the Royal Norwegian Navy Ships built in Horten 1872 ships Maritime incidents in 1919 Shipwrecks in the North Sea