The ''Gor'' class was a class of two Rendel (or "flat-iron") gunboats built for the

Royal Norwegian Navy The Royal Norwegian Navy ( no, Sjøforsvaret, , Sea defence) is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for naval operations of Norway. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 in mobilized state, 3 ...

between 1884 and 1887. Small, nimble

vessels Vessel(s) or The Vessel may refer to: Biology *Blood vessel, a part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body *Lymphatic vessel, a thin walled, valved structure that carries lymph *Vessel element, a narrow wat ...

, they were armed with a single large-caliber gun for offensive purposes and several small, quick-firing guns for self-defense. The main gun was large for such a small craft, roughly a quarter of the length of the whole vessel, and of the same caliber as heavy

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

guns of the same era. The ''Gor'' class was likely built in the belief that the ships would be able to inflict serious damage to an opposing battleship.

Service history and fate

Shortly before the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, both vessels were rebuilt as minelayers. During this reconstruction, the heavy, large-caliber gun was replaced with a more modern 12 cm

breech-loader A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition (cartridge or shell) via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front ( muzzle). Modern firearms are generally breech ...

, and one of the 37 mm guns was replaced with a more potent 57 mm (''Tyr'') or 76 mm (''Gor'') gun. With the heavy gun and

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

removed, these diminutive vessels could carry a useful number of mines. Both vessels were kept in service until the German invasion in 1940, and both fell into German hands for the remainder of the war. After the

Second World War 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 ...

, the vessels were returned to the Royal Norwegian Navy, and subsequently decommissioned.

References

External links

Naval history via Flix: KNM Gor
retrieved 1 March 2006
Byggenummer ved Horten verft
retrieved 1 March 2006

retrieved 1 March 2006 {{Norwegian gunships Gunboat classes