- HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen OPV
HNoMS "Fridtjof Nansen" was the first ship in the Norwegian armed forces to be built specially to perform
coast guard and fishery protection duties in theArctic . Command was assumed29 May 1931 by Commander Ole A. Blom. [Sivertsen 2001: 126] She was constructed with build number 118 at the Royal Norwegian Naval Yard atHorten . [Horten municipal archive of local history: [http://www.lokalhistoriskarkiv.no/arkivet/historiske_sider/horten_verft/byggenummer Build numbers at Horten naval yard] no icon]Name
She was named after
Fridtjof Nansen - the great Norwegianexplorer ,scientist ,diplomat andNobel Peace Prize laureate .1933 sinking
On 21 December 1933 "Fridtjof Nansen" departed the port of
Hammerfest on her way to her patrol areas in easternFinnmark . While passing throughVestervågen inMåsøy she ran aground and sank the next night. She was raised the next year and taken to Horten for repairs. [Sivertsen 2001: 260]War service
Norwegian Campaign
At the outbreak of war with the German invasion of Norway
9 April ,1940 , "Fridtjof Nansen" was posted to the Finnmark detachment of the 3rd Naval District coveringNorth Norway . [ [http://niehorster.orbat.com/022_norway/navy_03.htm Administrative order of the Royal Norwegian Navy's third district, 8 April 1940] ]In exile
After surviving several air attacks without damage during the
Norwegian Campaign "Fridtjof Nansen" was one of the thirteenRoyal Norwegian Navy vessels that made it to the UK, as she escaped westwards at the dawn of the10 June 1940 mainland Norwegian capitulation. On8 June 1940 she took on board inTromsø Rear Admiral Henry E. Diesen and foreign ministerHalvdan Koht in addition to some other refugees.Sivertsen 2001: 139]She arrived at
Tórshavn on theFaroe Islands on13 June and later sailed to theUnited Kingdom where she was made war ready.From
29 August 1940 she was posted as a patrol vessel inIceland to reinforce the British naval forces there. On8 November she ran on an unmarked shallow outside the Norwegian Arctic island ofJan Mayen and sank. The crew of 67 was all saved.ee also
*
List of World War II ships
*List of shipwrecks in 1940 Notes
ources
* Abelsen, Frank: "Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945", Sem & Stenersen AS, Oslo 1986, ISBN 82-7046-050-8 en icon/no icon
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* [http://navalhistory.flixco.info/G/288833x9/8330/a0.htm Naval history via FLIX: "Fridtjof Nansen"] , retrieved 17 March 2006 en icon
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