The motor ship Ragnvald Jarl is a former Hurtigruten ship that was used in liner service off the Norwegian coast. It is currently used as a training ship under the name Sjøkurs , and from 1995 to 2007 it was called Gann .
The ship was built in 1956 by Blohm + Voss in Hamburg under construction number 789 and handed over to the Hurtigruten shipping company NFDS on July 24, 1956 . Her sister ships, also built in Hamburg, were the Nordstjernen and the old Finnmarken . The new ship was first used in liner service on the Hurtigrute on July 28, 1956. This new ship was part of a large-scale new build program by the Hurtigruten shipping companies, which had to compensate for their war-related losses with ten almost identical ships.
The ship is 81.24 meters long, 12.65 meters wide and has a draft of 5.07 meters. It used to be measured at 2196.15 gross tons. The ten-cylinder MAN diesel engine develops 2,950 hp, which means the ship can travel at a maximum cruising speed of 16.9 knots.
The ship was extensively renovated in 1983 at the Mjellem & Karlsen shipyard in Bergen ; The cabins, in particular, were given a thorough overhaul and most of them were equipped with their own wet cells. The maximum number of passengers has been reduced from 585 to 410. The number of beds on board was also reduced from 205 to 144 after the renovation.
Whereabouts and further use
Sjøkurs , the former Ragnvald Jarl
The ship left the line service on the Hurtigrute with the end of the summer schedule on September 9, 1995 and was sold to Rogaland Sjøaspirantskole , based in Stavanger , for 10 million Norwegian kroner . The ship, renamed Gann and extensively renovated, was used for training purposes and as a tourist ship.
On February 5, 2007, the new Gann , the former Narvik , was put into service. The old Gann was sold on March 9, 2007 to Sørlandets Maritime Vidergående Skole in Kristiansand , where it is used as a training ship under the name Sjøkurs (translated: Sea Course). In the summer of 2013, the television talk show Sommeråpent on the Norwegian broadcaster NRK was broadcast from June 21 to August 10 from the Sjøkurs , which called at various ports along the Norwegian coast during this time. A similar program was carried out in 2015.
