or (or unofficially: ''Rombaksfjord'') is a

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

that branches off of the main Ofotfjorden in Narvik Municipality in

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The fjord is about long and is surrounded by steep mountains, and the town of Narvik lies on the south shore of the mouth of the fjord. The European route E06 and European route E10 highways run along the northern shores of the fjord. The fjord has two bridge crossings: the

Hålogaland Bridge The Hålogaland Bridge ( no, Hålogalandsbrua) is a suspension bridge which crosses the Rombaksfjorden in Narvik Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is the second-longest bridge span in Norway. The bridge is part of the European Route E ...

, completed in 2018, crosses at mouth of the Rombaken fjord and the

Rombak Bridge The Rombak Bridge ( no, Rombaksbrua) is a suspension bridge in Narvik Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The bridge crosses the Rombaken fjord near the town of Narvik. The bridge was opened in 1964. The main span is and the maximum clea ...

which crosses at a narrow point about mid-way down the fjord.

History

Along the inner part of the fjord there used to be a city——with 700 inhabitants.Hadde både bordell og bowlingbane - så forsvant byen
ad brothel and bowling lane - then the city disappeared/ref> It had its time of greatness during the construction of the

Ofotbanen The Ofoten Line ( no, Ofotbanen) is a railway line in Narvik, Norway. It runs from the Port of Narvik to Riksgränsen on the Norway–Sweden border, where the line continues as the Ore Line via Kiruna and Gällivare to Luleå. The Ofoten Line ...

, between 1898-1903.

World War II

Rombaken was the site of several naval battles during the

Battle of Narvik The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April to 8 June 1940, as a naval battle in the Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding the north Norwegian town of Narvik, as part of the Norwegian Campaign of the Second World War. ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Ten German

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s, half the destroyer force of the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

, and one

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

were sunk during the battle. It is also where ORP ''Grom'', one of the two most heavily armed and fastest destroyers of World War II, was sunk by the a Heinkel He 11 from Luftwaffe's ''Kampfgeschwader'' 100.

After World War II

Parts of the bow of the German destroyer ''

Georg Thiele The German destroyer ''Z2 Georg Thiele'' was one of four Type 1934-class destroyers built for the German Navy ('' Kriegsmarine'') during the mid-1930s. She was named after Georg Thiele, a Korvettenkapitän (Corvette Captain) who commanded the ...

'' remain visible above the water in Rombaksbotn to this day. The wrecks at Narvik remain popular diving spots, although some are off-limits because they still contain unexploded ordnance. Three of the German destroyers were lifted in 1964 and moved to Framnesodden, near Eidsvoid, to clear the shipping lane. The destroyers '' Anton Schmitt'', ''

Diether von Roeder ''Z17 Diether von Roeder'' was one of six Type 1936 destroyers built for the '' Kriegsmarine'' (German Navy) in the late 1930s. Completed in 1938, the ship spent most of her time training although she did participate in the occupation of Memel ...

'' and '' Wilhelm Heidkamp'' rest in of water there and were opened for diving. A number of other wrecks are accessible, too, but most have been preserved as historic sites and it is forbidden to dive to them.Wrecks of Narvik - wreck diving in the Narvik area
accessed: 21 November 2010

Media gallery

File:Rombaken harald groven.jpg, Part of Rombaken File:Rombak Bridge-2.jpg, The

is a suspension bridge over the fjord File:Bernd von Arnim scuttled.jpg, The

German destroyer Z11 Bernd von Arnim Z11 ''Bernd von Arnim'' was a built for Nazi Germany's '' Kriegsmarine'' in the late 1930s. At the beginning of World War II, the ship was initially deployed to blockade the Polish coast, but she was quickly transferred to the German Bight to l ...

, beached and scuttled at Rombaken during the Second Naval Battle of Narvik during

References

{{authority control Fjords of Nordland Narvik

History

World War II

After World War II

Media gallery

See also

References