Bjørgvin-class coastal defence ship

The Bjørgvin class was a class of two coastal defense ships, the Bjørgvin and the Nidaros, 1912 in the UK ordered the Norwegian Navy at Armstrong - Whitworth to replace their old coastal defense ships Harald Haarfagre and Tordenskjold.

Construction and acquisition

The two ships arrived in 1914 by the stack. They were still at the outbreak of World War I in the final finishing. In Winston Churchill's command they were seized or forcibly bought and completed on behalf of the Royal Navy; they were intended for the bombardment by the German army occupied Belgium. Norway got back the already paid purchase price. After their takeover in the Royal Navy, the two ships were renamed HMS Glatton (ex Bjørgvin ) and HMS Gorgon (ex Nidaros ). This means that the class in Glatton class has been renamed.

Service history

After long delays and interruptions in the implementation and ongoing construction, the Gorgon was finally ready for use in June 1918. Between July and October 1918, it shelled repeatedly German coastal batteries in Belgium, knew otherwise guard duty in the English Channel. She was decommissioned on 31 August 1919 and transferred to the reserve fleet. Following an unsuccessful attempt to sell them, she was decommissioned in 1922, used until 1928 as a target ship and then sold and canceled in August 1928 for scrapping.

The Glatton was ready only in September 1918, but had already on 16 September after a munitions explosion on board, which threatened to skip the 150 meters lying in the port of Dover ammunition ship Gransha, at the command of Vice Admiral Roger Keyes be scuttled by torpedo attack.

Comments

• Military ship class (Norway )
• Ironclad (Norway )
• Coastal defense ship