The ''Spica'' class was a class of six fast torpedo boats built for the

Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels o ...

in the 1960s and decommissioned in the late 1980s. One ship, , is preserved as a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden.

History

The ships were ordered in 1961 as part of a re-armament programme for defending Sweden's coastline. Tenders were sought from various European boat builders in the United Kingdom, Norway and Germany including Lurssen who offered the new ''Jaguar''-class design. The Swedes ended up designing a bespoke vessel which became the template for subsequent Swedish

fast attack craft A fast attack craft (FAC) is a small, fast, agile, offensive, often affordable warship armed with anti-ship missiles, gun or torpedoes. FACs are usually operated in close proximity to land as they lack both the seakeeping and all-round defensive ...

Design

The hull was made of steel, unlike some other contemporary designs which used plywood. Although the boat had a relatively small hull and displacement, this provided a stable platform. The Bridge and Operations Room were located at the rolling and stamping centre of the ship which further improved stability for the crew especially in high seas. The boats were fitted with an NBC support system where the hull could be closed down in the event of having to operate in a nuclear fall-out area.

Machinery

The machinery consisted of three shafts powered by British built,

Bristol Proteus The Bristol Proteus was the Bristol Engine Company's first mass-produced gas turbine engine design, a turboprop that delivered just over 4,000 hp (3,000 kW). The Proteus was a reverse-flow gas turbine. Because the second turbine drov ...

gas turbines. Three MTU gas turbines were also installed as auxiliary generators

Armament

The torpedo armament consisted of six torpedo tubes which were positioned at an angle. Hydrogen-peroxide propelled, wire guided torpedoes were used. The gun armament consisted of a single Bofors 57 mm gun, which was capable of firing 200 rounds per minute over an effective range of . The gun could engage both surface and airborne targets. There were also six and four rocket launchers capable of firing

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, infrared countermeasures and illuminating projectiles (starshell). The torpedo boats had a scanning and a

fire control radar A fire-control radar (FCR) is a radar that is designed specifically to provide information (mainly target azimuth, elevation angle, elevation, ranging, range and range rate) to a fire-control system in order to direct weapons such that they hit a ...

with a basic fire control computer. There were plans to replace the torpedo tubes with anti-ship missiles in the 1980s but these plans were cancelled.

Ships

Twelve ships of a

missile boat A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They a ...

variant were built between 1971 and 1975 as the (Spica II).

Survivors

1 ''Spica''-class torpedo boat is preserved as museum ship.

Surviving ships

* HSwMS ''Spica'' in Vasa Museum,

Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Swed ...

Surviving parts

* HSwMS ''Virgo'' in

Slagsta Marina Slagsta is a municipal district and a residential area of Botkyrka Municipality, Stockholm County, southeastern Sweden. It is located between the E4 south and part of Lake Mälaren in the north. The area is named after Slagsta farm. Gallery F ...

References

* {{Authority control Spica-class torpedo boats (Sweden), Torpedo boat classes Torpedo boats of the Cold War Ships built in Sweden