''Tordenskjold'' was a

torpedo ram A torpedo ram is a type of torpedo boat combining a ram with torpedo tubes. Incorporating design elements from the cruiser and the monitor, it was intended to provide small and inexpensive weapon systems for coastal defence and other littoral com ...

built for the Royal Danish Navy in the early 1880s. The ship was sold for

scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...

in 1908.

Design and description

''Tordenskjold'' was long, had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draft of .Gardiner, p. 366 She displaced Balsved and was fitted with a ram bow. Her crew consisted of 220 officers and enlisted men.Silverstone, p. 56 The ship was fitted with a pair of Burmeister & Wain compound-expansion steam engines, each engine driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by eight cylindrical boilers. The engines were rated at a total of and gave the ship a speed of . ''Tordenskjold'' carried a maximum of of coal that gave her a range of at a speed of . The ram's main battery consisted of a single 25-

caliber In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...

gun mounted in the barbette forward of the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

. She was also armed with four single 25-caliber guns aft, each protected by a

gun shield A U.S. Marine manning an M240 machine gun equipped with a gun shield A gun shield is a flat (or sometimes curved) piece of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, or artillery piece ...

. For defense against torpedo boats, the ship was equipped with four 5-revolving barrel, , 1-pounder

Hotchkiss gun The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch (42 mm) light mountain gun; there were also a navy (47 mm) and a 3-inch (76&nbs ...

s. The ship was also fitted with one and three 355 mm torpedo tubes. ''Tordenskjold''s waterline was completely unprotected. The barbette was protected by of armor. The deck armor was thick while the

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...

was protected by armor plates.

Construction and service

''Tordenskjold'', named for Vice Admiral Peter Tordenskjold, victor in the 1716

Battle of Dynekilen The naval Battle of Dynekilen () took place on 8 July 1716 during the Great Northern War between a Dano-Norwegian fleet under Peter Tordenskjold and a Swedish fleet under Olof Strömstierna. The battle resulted in a Dano-Norwegian victory. Bac ...

during the Great Northern War,Silverstone, p. 60 was laid down on 5 June 1879 by the

Orlogsværftet ''Orlogsværftet'' () was a Danish naval shipyard under the Royal Danish Navy. Before 1924, it was an integral part of the naval base at Holmen Naval Base, Holmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark, with an independent management from 1692 when Olau ...

in Copenhagen, launched on 30 September 1880 and commissioned on 29 September 1882.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tordenskjold Ironclad warships of the Royal Danish Navy 1880 ships Ships built in Copenhagen