HSwMS ''Sölve'' is one of seven s built for the

Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels ...

in the mid-1870s. The ship had an uneventful career and was sold in 1919 for conversion into a

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...

. She became a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small num ...

in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1992.

Design and description

The ''Hildur''-class monitors were designed by Lieutenant John Christian d'Ailly, from a proposal by

John Ericsson John Ericsson (born Johan Ericsson; July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American inventor. He was active in England and the United States. Ericsson collaborated on the design of the railroad steam locomotive ''Novelty'', which co ...

, for the defense of Lake Mälaren and the Stockholm archipelago. The ships were long overall and had 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 g ...

of . They had a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a ves ...

of and displaced . Her crew numbered 48 officers and men. The ship had

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw a ...

s at bow and stern.Harris, pp. 30–32 The ''Hildur''s had a pair of two-cylinder horizontal-return connecting-rod steam engines, each driving a single propeller using steam from two cylindrical boilers. The engines produced a total of which gave the monitors a maximum speed of .Harris, pp. 30–31 The ships carried of coal.Gardiner, p. 362 The monitors were equipped with one M/69

rifled breech loader A rifled breech loader (RBL) is an artillery piece which, unlike the smoothbore cannon and rifled muzzle loader (RML) which preceded it, has rifling in the barrel and is loaded from the breech at the rear of the gun. The spin imparted by the g ...

, mounted in a long, fixed, oval-shaped

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

. The gun weighed and fired projectiles at a

muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/ shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximatel ...

of . At its maximum elevation of 7.5° it had a range of .Bojerud, p. 177 The ''Hildur''s also mounted two guns. They were rearmed with a

quick-firing gun A quick-firing or rapid-firing gun is an artillery piece, typically a gun or howitzer, which has several characteristics which taken together mean the weapon can fire at a fast rate. Quick-firing was introduced worldwide in the 1880s and 1890s an ...

as well as three quick-firing guns sometime in the 1890s or the early 1900s. The ''Hildur'' class had a complete

waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Specifically, it is also the name of a special marking, also known as an international load line, Plimsoll line and water line (positioned amidships), that ind ...

armor belt Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers. The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating ...

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...

that was thick with a deck. The face of the

was protected by of armor, while its sides were thick. The conning tower protruded from the top of the turret and was protected by of armor.Harris, pp. 31–32

Construction and service

''Sölve'', named after

Sölve Sölve was a sea-king who conquered Sweden by burning the Swedish king Östen to death inside his hall. The ''Heimskringla'' relates that he was the son of Högne of Nærøy, and that he had his home in Jutland (however, according to the older ...

, a

semi-legendary King of Sweden The legendary kings of Sweden () according to legends were rulers of Sweden and the Swedes who preceded Eric the Victorious and Olof Skötkonung, the earliest reliably attested Swedish kings. Though the stories of some of the kings may be embell ...

, was launched in 1875 by

Motala Verkstad AB Motala Verkstad is one of the oldest engineering companies in Sweden. The company was founded in 1822 during the construction of Göta Canal. Motala Verkstad has also built about 400 ships, 800 bridges (e.g. Västerbron, Skeppsholmsbron, B ...

Norrköping Norrköping (; ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Link� ...

. She was decommissioned in 1919 and was converted into an

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

after she was sold. The ship was acquired by the Gothenburg Maritima Centrum from

Mobil Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

oil in 1992. It has been partially restored and is currently moored at the Maritiman marine museum in Gothenburg.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Solve Hildur-class monitors Ships built in Norrköping 1875 ships Ships preserved in museums Museum ships in Sweden Museums in Gothenburg 1875 in Sweden