HNoMS ''Nor'' was a ''Vale''-class Rendel gunboat 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 ...

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) ...

Naval Yard in 1878. She was one of a class of five gunboats - the other ships in the class were ''Vale'', ''Brage'', ''Uller'' and ''Vidar''. ''Nor'' was, in addition to the heavy, muzzle-loading main gun, armed with a small 'Quick Fire' gun and a 37mm

Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different types of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch (42 mm) light mountain gun. There were also navy (47 mm) and 3-inch (76 mm) ...

(broadly similar to the

Gatling gun The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling of North Carolina. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon. The Gatling gun's operatio ...

). Later ''Nor'' and her sister ships was rebuilt as mine layers, and she served in this role when the Germans invaded in 1940. During the Norwegian Campaign she served mainly in

Sognefjorden The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, ), nicknamed the King of the Fjords (), is the longest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the small village of Skjolden in the muni ...

. She was captured by German forces on 14 April 1940, and returned to Norway after the war. The vessel was built at the Naval Yard at Horten, and had yard number 57. After being decommissioned in 1945 the ship was sold to a civilian company in 1949, converted to a salvage ship/tug and renamed ''Flatholm''.Abelsen, Frank: ''Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945'', Sem & Stenersen AS, Oslo 1986,

Footnotes

External links

Naval history via Flix: KNM Vale
retrieved 27 Feb 2006 Vale-class gunboats Ships built in Horten 1878 ships World War II minelayers of Norway Naval ships of Norway captured by Germany during World War II Minelayers of the Kriegsmarine World War II minelayers of Germany {{Norway-mil-ship-stub