Dristigheten

The Dristigheten as a seaplane tender
Overview
Type	Coastal armored ship until 1927, then seaplane tender
Shipyard	Lindholmens Varv , Gothenburg
Keel laying	February 6, 1899
Launch	April 28, 1900
Commissioning	September 5, 1901
Decommissioning	June 13, 1947
Technical specifications
displacement	3200 t, maximum 3600 t
length	89.0 m over everything
width	14.78 m
Draft	4.88 m
crew	275-289 men
drive	8 Yarrow boilers , 2 triple expansion machines 5600 hp , 2 screws
speed	16.8 kn
Range	2900 nm at 10 kn
Armament	2 × 210 mm Bofors cannons 6 × 152 mm Bofors rapid fire guns, 10 × 57 mm Finspång rapid fire guns 2 × 45.7 cm torpedo tubes 1 × 37 mm Bofors automatic cannon for steam boats
Coal supply	310 t
Armor	Harvey system
Belt armor heavy towers Barbette casemates deck	140–200 mm 150–200 mm 150–200 mm 100 mm 50 mm

The Dristigheten , which was put into service in 1901, was the seventh (coastal) ironclad (Swedish "Pansarskepp") in the Swedish fleet . The Dristigheten was a single ship after two classes of three ships each. It was built from 1899 to 1901 by the Lindholmens Varv shipyard in Gothenburg as a re-armed further development of the Oden class . All Dristigheten weapons were rapid fire weapons for the first time on a Swedish ironclad. Two 210 mm L / 44 Bofors guns Model 98 in a front and rear single turret replaced the last used French 10-inch canet guns. The new Bofors guns fired faster and further than the previously used heavy weapons. In addition, there were now six heavier 152 mm L / 44 Bofors guns Model 98 in casemates. From 1906 the ship served as a cadet training ship and made trips to the Mediterranean in winter.

In 1927 it was decided to convert the ship that was to be scrapped near Bergsund in Stockholm into a workshop ship for seaplanes. The heavy towers and casemates were removed and a workshop hall was built on the aft deck. The Dristigheten came back into service in 1929. Use as a seaplane carrier was not possible, as a maximum of three machines could be taken on board and there was no catapult . The ship remained in service during World War II and was decommissioned in 1947. The hull was used as an artillery target and for explosive tests and it was not until 1961 that the Dristigheten was finally scrapped.

Building history

Dristigheten shortly after completion

The construction of the Dristigheten was approved in 1898. The reorganized Motala group received the order and developed an improved Oden class ship, which was built at the Lindholm shipyard in Gothenburg, which belongs to the group, from 1899. The new ironclad was named Dristigheten (Boldness) after the ship of the line of that name , which remained in service from 1785 to 1867 and which had distinguished itself above all in the wars against Russia at the end of the 18th century.

The construction of the Dristigheten began with the completion of the Niord as the fourth coastal armored ship of the shipyard for the Swedish Navy.

Model ship of the new rapid fire armament

For the first time, two 21 cm L / 44 Bofors rapid-fire guns, model 98, were introduced in single turrets as the main armament . The new Bofors guns shot faster and further than the last used French 10-inch Canet guns. The Swedish Navy then used this weapon on the five following ironclad ships ( 4 of the Äran class and Oscar II ) and also used the weapon to modernize their older ironclad ships of the Svea class . The 120 mm rapid fire guns of the Oden class, which were perceived as insufficiently powerful , were replaced by the likewise newly developed 152 mm L / 44 Bofors rapid fire guns model 98 in casemates on the sides of the superstructure. This type of setup was abandoned for the successors and the converted ships of the Svea class, however, in favor of towers for this new standard naval weapon. For light weapons, ten 57 mm L / 55 Finspång rapid-fire guns, model 89B, were installed as on the previous ironclad ships. The torpedo armament with two 45 cm wide side tubes model 99 was slightly different from the single bow tubes of the same caliber used last. In addition, the Dristigheten received a 37 mm automatic cannon from the 98B model, with which one of the two large steam dinghies could be equipped if necessary.

In addition to the armament, the propulsion system had also been changed. For the first time, eight Yarrow boilers were installed on the. The use of this water-tube boiler , developed for destroyers, had previously been implemented by the Danish Navy in their larger units. The small and relatively light boilers were set up in two boiler rooms. The triple expansion machines supplied by Motala achieved a design output of 5600 hp and gave the Dristigheten a top speed of 16.8 knots.

After 1906 the Dristigheten, like the ships of the following Aran class, received a tripod mast and a modern range finder. During the First World War, she exchanged two of her 57 mm guns for the anti-aircraft version of the 57 mm gun.

Conversion to a seaplane tender

In 1927 it was decided to convert the ship that was due to be scrapped near Bergsund in Stockholm into a workshop ship for seaplanes. The heavy towers and casemates were removed and a workshop hall was built on the aft deck. Behind this a crane was set up, with which seaplanes could be lifted on board or put on the water.

As aircraft, tests were first made with machines of the type T 1 Heinkel HD 16 , of which two were present, and J 4 Heinkel HD 19 , of which six were present.

The new armament consisted only of anti-aircraft weapons. Four 75 mm L / 50 Flak Model 12, one twin machine gun and two single machine guns were set up. The Dristigheten came back into service in 1929. Even if it was occasionally referred to as a seaplane carrier , it was not, as it could take a maximum of three machines on board and also had no catapult to take off from the ship.

Mission history

The Dristigheten entered service on December 5, 1901.

Foreign trips of the ironclad

From May 27 to September 11, 1906, she made her long journey, visiting Sundsvall , Wilhelmshaven , Sheerness , Helsingborg and Malmö before returning to Karlskrona. Already on October 28th she left for a winter trip to the Mediterranean . She visited Cherbourg , Vigo , Tangier , Algiers , Malta , Smyrna (today Izmir) , Saloniki , Piraeus , Naxos , Suda Bay / Crete , Bizerta , Naples , Toulon , Gibraltar , Plymouth and Strömstad , before returning on April 14, 1907 Karlskrona arrived. In July and August 1908 the Dristigheten visited Gravesend and Le Havre with the armored ship Thor .

The armored cruiser Fylgia

In 1909, from June 8th to August 4th, another trip to the Mediterranean followed via Portsmouth and Gibraltar to Genoa and Algiers. Cherbourg was called on the way back. Accompanied by the armored cruiser Fylgia, which returned from South America in April , the Dristigheten visited . In 1910 another trip was carried out together with the Fylgia from May 12th to July 5th to Rotterdam , Guernsey , Santander , St. Nazaire , Brodick Bay on the Scottish island of Arran , to Greenock , Copenhagen and Strömstad.

In the fall of 1912, accompanied hswms dristigheten Stockholm with the Fylgia and the destroyer Sigurd the ironclad Oscar II. With King Gustav V and his wife Victoria on board to the island Pitkäpaasi ago Vyborg , where the Swedish royal couple the Tsar met with family.

After serving in coastal surveillance during the First World War, the Dristigheten visited Copenhagen and Kristiansand around the turn of the year 1918/1919 . In 1921 she visited Kiel , Plymouth, Lisbon , Bordeaux , Dartmouth and Kristiania (today Oslo) and on her last big trip abroad in 1922 Leith , Oporto , San Sebastian , La Rochelle and Flensburg .

Use as a seaplane tender

From 1927 to 1929 the ship was converted into a seaplane tender. Tests were carried out with double-decker seaplanes acquired from the Heinkel company in Germany. For the new cruiser Gotland , which was to serve as a mine- layer and seaplane carrier to support the fleet, six Hawker Orsprey were then procured, with Bristol Mercury radial engines built by Nydqvist och Holm in Sweden . It could not be determined whether these also used the Dristighetes .

The Dristighetes with additional superstructures and weapons in front of the workshop hall during the Second World War

According to the mobilization plan, the Dristigheten should monitor the Swedish waters together with the Gotland and six destroyers and the seaplanes and check their users. On the day of the German attack on Denmark and Norway ( Operation Weser Exercise ) on April 9, 1940, it was in the shipyard in Stockholm because of its poor state of preservation. After the overhaul, the ship remained in the capital as an anti-aircraft ship, whereby the armament was also somewhat reinforced and only moved to Karlskrona shortly before the end of the Second World War .

End of the dristighetes

After the Second World War there were no new active uses for the old ship and it was removed from the fleet list on June 13, 1947.

The remains of the ship were used as a target for artillery exercises in the following years and explosive tests were carried out on it. In the summer of 1960 she was again used by destroyers and frigates as a target with sharp weapons. After such exercises, work teams went on board to close existing leaks and bring the target ship back into port. However, the ship continued to take too much water in 1960 and sank in the archipelago off Karlskrona in tow. It was lifted again afterwards, but this time the damage was so extensive that it was decided to sell the Dristigheten to Gothenburg in 1962 for scrapping.

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  The Dristigheten, shot and sinking

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  The shot Dristigheten in the dock

The Swedish coastal armored ships

Surname	Launch	displacement	length	speed	Main armament
3 Svea class	1885-1893	3100-3300 tons	77.6-82.0 m	15-16 kn	1-2x25.4 cm, 4-15.2 cm guns
3 Oden class	1896-1898	3300-3400 tons	86.3 m	16.5-17 kn	2-25.4 cm, 6-12 cm guns
Dristigheten	1900	3550 t	89.0 m	16.5 kn	2-21 cm, 6.2-15.2 cm guns
4 aran class	1901-1903	3650 t	89.7 m	17 kn	2-21 cm, 6.2-15.2 cm guns
Oscar II	1905	4270 t	95.6 m	16.5 kn	2-21 cm, 4-2x15.2 cm guns
3 Sverige class	1915-1918	6850-7125 tons	120.0-121.6 m	22.5 kn	2-2x28 cm, 1-2x + 6-15.2 cm guns

literature

• B. Weyer: Taschenbuch der Kriegsflotten , JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich, 1905
• Alexander Bredt (Ed.): Weyers Taschenbuch der Kriegsflotten , JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich, 35th year 1941

Web links

Commons : HMS Dristigheten (ship, 1900)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Dristighetes
• Launch of the Dristigheten
• The Dristighetes in 1909 when they entered Algiers
• The Dristigheten as a seaplane tender
• The Dristigheten after conversion with two Heinkel machines
• The Dristigheten with two Heinkel machines, behind them Jacob Bagge
• Långresor och utlandsbesök med svenska örlogsfartyg mellan 1837 - 2005 (Swedish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ T 1 - Heinkel HD 16 (1928-1939) 420 HP-14 cylinder Armstrong Siddeley Leopard, 18.00 m wingspan, 13.00 m length, 4470 kg takeoff weight
2. ↑ J 4 - Svenska Aero / Heinkel HD 19 (1928–1937) ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 675 hp Bristol Jupiter VI, 11.00 m wingspan, 9.26 m length, 1725 kg takeoff weight 
3. ↑ S 9 - Hawker Osprey (1934-1947) 600 HP 9 cylinder NOHAB Bristol Mercury My VI (Pegasus I), 11.28 m wingspan, 9.64 m length, 2450 kg takeoff weight