The

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine, military aircraft or land vehicle deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for ins ...

HNoMS ''Frøya'' was built for the

Royal Norwegian Navy The Royal Norwegian Navy () is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for navy, naval operations of Norway, including those of the Norwegian Coast Guard. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 i ...

by the

naval shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involved ...

Horten Horten () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Horten (town) ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, with yard number 108. A fast ship for her time, she was kept in service until the German invasion of Norway in 1940. At some point between her commissioning and 1940, a 76 mm gun was added to her armaments. ''Frøya'' was the first purpose-built minelayer commissioned into the RNoN.

Frøya and the invasion

At the time the Germans invaded Norway, ''Frøya'' was underway from

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

naval base in the

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; ) is an inlet in southeastern Norway. The fjord begins at the small village of Bonn in Frogn, Frogn Municipality and stretching northwards to the city of Oslo, and then curving to the east and then south again. It then flows s ...

, and on 8 April she anchored at

Brekstad Brekstad is a town in Ørland Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located along the Trondheimsfjord at the entrance to the Stjørnfjorden. The town is located about south of the village of Uthaug and about west of the villages of ...

harbour at

Ørland Municipality Ørland is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen Districts of Norway, region. Ørland is located at the southwestern tip of the Fosen peninsula at the northern ...

at the mouth of the

Trondheimsfjord The Trondheim Fjord or Trondheimsfjorden (), an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, is Norway's List of Norwegian fjords, third-longest fjord at long. It is located in the west-central part of the country in Trøndelag county, and it stretches from Ørl ...

. Due to bad weather Captain T. Schrøder-Nielsen was reluctant to cross Hustadvika bay on with the ship's full load of

mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

and had sought shelter at Brekstad overnight. When, on the morning of 9 April, the German assault came, the crew of the ''Frøya'' observed the intruding German warships making their way to

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

. Trapped in the

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

, the decision was made to move the minelayer into the nearby

Stjørnfjord Stjørnfjorden is an arm of Trondheimsfjorden that flows along the border of Ørland Municipality and Indre Fosen Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The long fjord stretches southwest from the mouth of the Nordelva river near the village ...

. In the Stjørnfjord ''Frøya'' repeatedly came under attack from both land based

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

and

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

bombers. On 13 April Captain Schrøder-Nielsen decided all hope was lost and, refusing to let his ship fall into German hands, he ordered her scuttled. After removing some equipment and ''Frøya''s load of mines for possible later use the crew of ''Frøya'' rammed their ship at great speed ashore at Søtvika, opened the ship's valves and at 12:30 fired explosive charges, demolishing her. Shortly after being scuttled the wreck of ''Frøya'' was discovered by ''

Kapitänleutnant , short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( or ''lieutenant captain'') is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the modern German . The rank is rated Ranks and insignia of NATO navies' officers, OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to i ...

Wilhelm Rollmann Wilhelm Rollmann (5 August 1907 – 5 November 1943) was a German U-boat commander during World War II, in which he commanded the and . He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. He was killed in action in 1943, ...

of the . As the

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

captain believed her still to be salvageable for the Norwegians the submarine

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

ed ''Frøya'', blowing the

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

off the already wrecked minelayer.

The wreck today

After she was scuttled, it was still possible to explore the wreck. Even today enough remains to make ''Frøya'' an interesting wreck to dive on.

References

Literature

External links

Naval history via FLIX: ''Frøya''
retrieved 14 March 2006
HNoMS Frøya

Krigsseilerregisteret Krigsseilerregisteret (English: The War Sailor Register, established on 19 January 2016) is a Norwegian website whose purpose is to create a register of all Norwegian sailors and ships that sailed in the period 1939 to 1945 for the neutral countri ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Froeya Maritime incidents in April 1940 Ships built in Horten Minelayers of the Royal Norwegian Navy World War II shipwrecks in the Norwegian Sea World War II minelayers of Norway 1916 ships Ships sunk with no fatalities Scuttled vessels Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II