HNoMS Horten (A530)
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HNoMS ''Horten'' (A530) was a Norwegian support vessel built at Karljohansvern in
Horten is a town and municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway—located along the Oslofjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. The municipality also includes the town of Åsgårdstrand an ...
, the city from which the ship was named, in 1977. She was in service with 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 ...
until her retirement in 2008 and filled a number of roles while in service. After being sold in 2012, the Horten is currently (2014) employed as a fishery patrol vessel in Nigeria, supporting the fleet of fast patrol boats sold along with her.


History

''Horten'' was originally designed as a support craft for
submarines A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely o ...
and
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 ...
. After a change in the design which shortened the vessel and gave her smaller
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
stores than originally intended, this role was reduced. Rather than supplying smaller ships with
ordnance Ordnance may refer to: Military and defense *Materiel in military logistics, including weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and maintenance tools and equipment. **The military branch responsible for supplying and developing these items, e.g., the Unite ...
, ''Horten'' functioned primarily as support craft with regards to food, fuel and water – in some cases, the on-board facilities were also made available to crews visiting from smaller ships. ''Horten'' was known as a spacious vessel – privates had four-man cabins, leading privates had two-man cabins and some petty officers had single cabins. Commissioned officers had cabins of a high standard and the
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
a large, separate cabin with top facilities. There were also guest quarters for high-ranking officers on the same deck as the captain's quarters. The officers also had a separate mess hall with a
bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...
. During naval exercises (e.g. ''Joint Winter'' and ''Blue Game'') in the early 2000s (decade), the ship functioned as command vessel for
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
officers responsible for overseeing the exercise. In 1985, the ship served as
royal yacht A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head. The royal yacht is most often c ...
for king Olav V whilst the royal yacht HNoMY ''Norge'' was repaired after a fire in the winter that year. Part of the reason for this choice was the ship's excellent facilities (see above). In the 1986–89 period, ''Horten'' was laid up. When returning to service in 1989, she was turned into a school ship in the ''School squadron'' along with HNoMS ''Hessa'' and HNoMS ''Vigra''. The facilities on board and the size of the vessel ensured that academy cadets could get experience with navigation and command in addition to normal schooling. The ship continued to function in this role intermittently throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s (decade), as well as serving as support vessel. During 2005–08, ''Horten'' primarily functioned as living and training centre for the crews of the new Nansen class frigates. She had previously served as training ship for frigate crews in 2001, after the ''
Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...
'' was being repaired after a boiler failure. ''Horten'' was decommissioned in 2008, after many years of discussion and postponement due to the lack of a suitable replacement. The sale of the ship turned out to be a lengthy and difficult process, as the
Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
wanted to sell her along with retired (albeit still armed) fast patrol boats. After several failed attempts to complete a sale, it was eventually reported in 2012 that the ship had been sold to an undisclosed buyer in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It was later revealed, causing some scandal in Norwegian media, that the ship had been sold to a Nigerian warlord, via a British shell company.Vanguard - ''Unease in Niger Delta: Group kicks as Tompolo allegedly acquires battleships''
/ref>


Pictures

File:Horten alongside fregattene.jpg, ''Horten'' moored alongside the Oslo class frigates ''Bergen'' and ''Narvik'' in 2001. File:Mannskapet2001.jpg, The crew photographed in 2001. File:Horten Junior.jpg, "Junior", one of the ship's two small boats, in 2001. File:Sjøbjørn.jpg, "Sjøbjørn" (sea bear), one of the ship's two small boats, in 2001. File:Sjøbjørn i davit.jpg, "Sjøbjørn" (sea bear), one of the ship's two small boats, in the davit in 2001.


Bibliography

* Stephen Saunders RN red. (2004). ''Jane's Fighting Ships 2004-2005'', 107. ed., s. 518. Jane’s Information Group Limited. . * Marius Thomassen (1995). ''90 år under rent norsk orlogsflagg''. .


References


External links


The Norwegian defence: ''The Navy''

The Norwegian Defence: ''Naval craft''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horten (A530) Ships built in Horten Auxiliary ships of the Royal Norwegian Navy 1977 ships Royal and presidential yachts