HNoMS Draug

The destroyer HNoMS "Draug", known locally as "Torpedojager Draug" (lit. En.: "torpedo hunter"), was the lead ship of the three-ship Draug class of destroyers built for the Royal Norwegian Navy in the years 1908-1913. She was built at the Royal Norwegian Navy's shipyard at Horten with build number 103. [Horten municipal archive for local history: [http://www.lokalhistoriskarkiv.no/arkivet/historiske_sider/horten_verft/byggenummer Build numbers at Horten naval yard] no icon] The four-stacked destroyer was kept in service long after she was obsolete, and took part in the defence of Norway after the German invasion in 1940.

Name

She was named after the Draugr - a sinister, malevolent being of Nordic origin and often connected with mariners and the sea.

Reactivation for neutrality protection duties

When the Second World War broke out "T/J Draug" had, as had her sister ships HNoMS "Troll" and HNoMS "Garm", been mothballed for a number of years as part of pre-war savings on the Norwegian military budget. With the outbreak of war the three "Draug" class vessels were reactivated in order to take part in guarding Norwegian neutrality on September 5 1939. When the reactivation order came, it took well over a month for workers to find and repair all the cracks and leaks in the ship's steam boilers and make her seaworthy again. The tiny destroyers of the Draug class were not considered fit for possible combat operations and were only meant to perform escort and guard duties.

="Draug" and the invasion=

The beginning of April 1940 saw Draug part of the 2nd Naval District's 1st destroyer division, [ [http://niehorster.orbat.com/022_norway/navy_02.htm Administrative Order of Battle Royal Norwegian Navy] en icon] covering an area roughly the same as the Vestlandet and Trøndelag regions. She was based in the small south western port of Haugesund and carrying out escort missions along the western coast. The day before the invasion, on April 8 "Draug" escorted the 7,369 ton German merchant vessel "Seattle", [http://www.skovheim.org/located/vagder/seattle/seattle.htm Wreck diving website on the "Seattle"] no icon/en icon] a ship that would be sunk outside Kristiansand the next day, when she got caught in the crossfire between the German invasion fleet and Norwegian coastal artillery at Odderøya Fort. The crew of the "Seattle" was captured by Norwegian troops and held as POWs until freed by the advancing invasion force on April 10. As she was finishing her escort mission, "Draug" received orders from the Norwegian Naval Command to return at full speed to Haugesund and refuel her coal stores. When Draug arrived in Haugesund at about 1500 hours, the ships' commander, Captain (later Vice Admiral) Thore Horve, was told of the German naval advance through Danish waters and of the sinking of the 5,261 ton clandestine German troop transport "Rio de Janeiro" [ [http://chrito.users1.50megs.com/handelsmarine/verlustliste8.htm Losses of the German merchant navy on the "Rio de Janeiro"] de icon] by the Polish submarine "Orzeł" outside the southern port of Lillesand.

Shortly after receiving this information, Captain Horve had a personal telephone conversation with Admiral Carsten Tank-Nielsen, the commander of the Royal Norwegian Navy, who told him that he had ordered the navy's ships in Bergen to open fire at any and all foreign warships that might try to force their way into that port. The admiral gave him permission to use his own judgment in the coming hours. The conversation left Horve in no doubt that war was coming and he therefore ordered his ship to be made ready for war, guards to be posted and all lights on the ship and in the harbour area to be blacked out.

The "Main"

During the night of April 9, "Draug" was patrolling and watching shipping in the Karmsund. At about 2 am, Horve was notified that Oslofjord Fortress was engaging an unknown enemy force in the Oslofjord, leading to the crew being ordered to full combat stations. At 4 am, an unknown ship, flying no national flag, was observed sailing northwards through the Karmsund. The ship refused to stop after both flares and warning shots had been fired and "Draug" had to give chase and capture the vessel. After leading the unknown ship into Haugesund, its identity was found to be the 7,624 ton German vessel "Main", [ [http://chrito.users1.50megs.com/handelsmarine/verlustliste6.htm Losses of the German merchant navy on the "Main"] de icon] with papers claiming she was carrying a cargo of 7000 tons of coke to Bergen. When "Draug's" second-in-command, lieutenant Østervold, tried to inspect the cargo, however, he was refused by the German captain, all entrances to the cargo hold also being blocked off to make a proper search impossible. In response, the inspecting officer decided to take the ship under arrest and sealed the radio room.Hansen 2005: 63]

While Østervold was attempting to inspect the "Main's" cargo, Captain Horve had a telephone conversation with Captain Aarstad at the Navy Command at Marineholmen in Bergen. Aarstad informed him that he had been taken prisoner and could not give Horve any orders. Soon after the conversation, a Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service M.F. 11 patrol bomber seaplane landed in the harbour and its pilot reported that German ships, U-boats and aircraft were in the area and that the city of Stavanger had most likely been occupied.

Horve decided to take the enemy ship as a prize and bring it to a British port. Since "Draug" had almost no anti-aircraft weapons to speak of, and the skies were full of enemy aircraft, the destroyer could do little good by remaining where she was. He ignored an order from Naval Command to go to the Hardangerfjord and block German naval forces from gaining access to that fjord. As Horve knew that the Naval Command headquarters in Bergen had been captured by the German invaders, he assumed that the order was false, although it later turned out it was not. When ordered to steer his ship towards Britain, the captain of the "Main" refused, only yielding after the Norwegian warship fired several warning shots and threatened to torpedo him.

To the UK

After the two ships had left Haugesund at about 0900hrs on April 9, they soon came under attack from a Luftwaffe bomber around convert|40|nmi|km off the Norwegian coast. The bombs, aimed at the "Main", missed but the German captain immediately scuttled his vessel and ordered his crew to abandon ship. As the order came very suddenly the evacuation was carried out with some panic, the boatswain drowning in the process. After picking up the German sailors "Draug" fired eight to ten rounds into the waterline of the scuttled merchantman to ensure that she would sink.

Now carrying sixty-seven German sailors along as POWs in addition to her own crew of seventy-two, "Draug" sped away towards Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands. By the next morning she was met by three of the Royal Navy's "Tribal"-class destroyers. One of the British ships, the HMS "Sikh" followed "Draug" into Sullom Voe, arriving at 1800hrs, where the German POWs were handed over to British authorities. Thereafter Draug sailed to Scapa Flow, arriving at 1000hrs on 11 April.Alvsaker, Guttorm: [http://www.nuav.net/draug.html T/J "Draug"] no icon] Hansen 2005: 64]

After arriving in the UK, many members of "Draug's" crew were transferred to Royal Navy ships and would serve aboard them during the remainder of the Norwegian Campaign. [Hansen 2005: 90] "Draug's" second-in-command, Lieutenant Østervold served as a liaison officer aboard the British light cruiser HMS "Manchester" during the April-May 1940 Namsos landings in Mid-Norway. [Hansen 2005: 91] The Chief Engineer on board, Kapteinløytnant (Lieutenant) B. M. Frimannslund, was left in command of the ship with 10-20 technical staff remaining to do maintenance work.

ervice in Britain

For the rest of her war service, "Draug" escorted coastal convoys and provided local defence in the south of England. The "Draug"'s aft 76 mm gun was removed and replaced with a 3" anti-aircraft cannon, and a number of anti-aircraft machine guns were installed.Abelsen 1986: 17]

MTB mothership

The first role of the "Draug" in the UK was to serve as mother ship in Portsmouth for the newest additions to the Royal Norwegian Navy, the two motor torpedo boats "MTB 5" and "MTB 6", until 5 August 1940. These two boats had been ordered before the invasion of Norway, but was only handed over in May 1940, well after the German landings.

Guard destroyer

During the critical autumn of 1940, when a German invasion of Britain seemed inevitable, the antiquated destroyer was deployed as a "Guard Destroyer" to LowestoftHansen 2005: 93] from 6 August to 27 October 1940 (Pennant No. H.28). In this role, she relatively often used her newly installed anti-aircraft weapons during air raids. "Draug" was the direct target of German bombers twice during this time, but escaped damage.

Between November 1940 and early 1941, "Draug" was rearmed, rebuilt and modernised at the shipyard in Grimsby. Amongst the changes made, her bridge was reconstructed and the fore funnel removed, probably to reduce the weight on the deck.

Convoy escort

After the initial invasion scare had passed, the "Draug" spent most of her time up until April 1942 escorting coastal convoys off the coast of Southern England.

Towing mtbs

In addition to her coastal duties, "Draug" also carried out more unusual operations, such as towing Norwegian motor torpedo boats to and from the coast of southern Norway. This greatly increased the range of the small MTBs, thus allowing them to carry out attacks on German-controlled convoys in the occupied homeland. The first attack made by a Norwegian MTB in Norwegian waters happened on 3 October 1941, when "MTB 56" was towed into position by "Draug" and proceeded to torpedo and sink off Kyrholmen the escorted 3,015 ton Norwegian tanker M/T "Borgny" of Oslo, [Warsailors.com: [http://warsailors.com/homefleet/shipsb2.html#borgny M/T "Borgny"] en icon] [ [http://www.skipsforlis.no/omtalteforlisbok2.asp Norwegian ship loss website] no icon] which had been requisitioned by the Germans and was carrying 3,500 tons of aviation fuel for the Luftwaffe in Norway. After the successful attack "MTB 56" dodged shells from both the escorts and a coastal battery at Korsneset and met "Draug" the next morning to be towed back to Lerwick on Shetland. [Berg 1997: 102] [Hansen 2005: 98-99] Fourteen Norwegian sailors died on the "Borgny", which was escorted by two German naval vessels at the time of the attack. [Sivertsen 2001: 213]

Depot ship and on loan to the RN

From April 1942 until her decommissioning 5 February 1943, "Draug" was used as a depot ship in Port Edgar for personnel of the Royal Norwegian Navy.

Even though officially decommissioned from the Royal Norwegian Navy, the "Draug" continued serving the allied cause. From 5 February to 2 September, she was on loan to the Royal Navy for special exercises and trials. The final decommissioning came on 19 November 1943 and she was sold for scrap in 1944.

Wartime C.O.s

* Captain T. Horve: 8 April 1940 - 3 November 1941
* Lieutenant Frodesen: 3 November 1941 - 21 March 1942
* Lieutenant H. Øi: 21 March 1942 - 13 April 1942
* CinC. Port Edgar: 13 April 1942 - 5 February 1943

Other RNoN ship called "Draug"

From 1956 to 1964, the Royal Norwegian Navy had a River class frigate called HNoMS "Draug" (ex. HCMS "Penetang").

ee also

* List of World War II ships of less than 1000 tons

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Abelsen, Frank: "Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945", Sem & Stenersen AS, Oslo 1986 ISBN 82-7046-050-8 no icon&en icon
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External links

* [http://navalhistory.flixco.info/H/288216x53056/8330/a0.htm Naval History via Flix: KNM Draug] , retrieved 29 January, 2006 en icon
* [http://hem.fyristorg.com/robertm/norge/Norw_navy_ships.html Ships of the Norwegian navy] , retrieved 29 January, 2006 en icon
* [http://www.lokalhistoriskarkiv.no/arkivet/historiske_sider/horten_verft/byggenummer Byggenummer ved Horten verft] , retrieved 8 February, 2006 no icon
* [http://www.nuav.net/draug.html Torpedojager Draug] , retrieved 16 November, 2006 no icon
* [http://www.lillesand-sjomannsforening.no/sjohistorie/skipvisen.php?skipID=1568 Draug KNM Torpedojager] , retrieved 2 May, 2007 no icon