HNoMS Mjølner (1868)

HNoMS ''Mjølner'', named after the hammer of the god Thor, was the fourth of five ships of the s built for the Royal Swedish Navy and the Royal Norwegian Navy in the mid-1860s. Influenced by the use of ironclads during the American Civil War, the design was based on that of . They were designed under the supervision of the Swedish-born inventor John Ericsson—coincidentally designer of ''Monitor''—and built in Sweden. ''Mjølner'' was delivered in 1868. She ran aground the following year, without serious damage, and reconstructed in 1897 with later breech-loading guns. ''Mjølner'' was sold for scrap in 1909.

Design and description

The ''John Ericsson''-class ironclads were designed to meet the need of the Swedish and Norwegian Navies for small, shallow-draft armored ships capable of defending their coastal waters. The standoff between and the much larger during the Battle of Hampton Roads in, early 1862, roused much interest in Sweden in this new type of warship, as it seemed ideal for coastal defense duties. John Ericsson, designer and builder of ''Monitor'', born in Sweden—although becoming an American citizen in 1848—offered to share his design with the Swedes. In response, they sent Lieutenant John Christian d'Ailly to the United States to study monitor design and construction under Ericsson. D'Ailly arrived in July 1862 and toured rolling mills, gun foundries, and visited several different ironclads under construction. He returned to Sweden in 1863 having completed the drawings of a ''Monitor''-type ship under Ericsson's supervision.

The ship was long overall, with a beam of . She had a draft of and displaced . ''Mjølner'' was divided into nine main compartments by eight watertight bulkheads. Over time a flying bridge and, later, a full superstructure, was added to each ship between the gun turret and the funnel.Bjoerud, p. 169 Initially her crew numbered 80 officers and men, but this increased to 104 as she was modified with additional weapons.Harris 1994, p. 26

Propulsion

The ''John Ericsson''-class ships had one twin-cylinder vibrating lever steam engines, designed by Ericsson himself, driving a single four-bladed, propeller. Their engines were powered by four fire-tube boilers at a working pressure of . The engines produced a total of which gave the monitors a maximum speed of in calm waters. The ships carried of coal, enough for six day's steaming.

Armament

''Mjølner'' was initially armed with a pair of Armstrong rifled muzzle-loading guns. Each gun was constructed of steel and weighed . The ship also carried an gun. During ''Mjølner''s reconstruction in 1897 her gun turret was fixed in place and modified to serve as a barbette for her two new breech-loading Cockerill guns. She also received two and Cockerill guns mounted in her superstructure. In addition two Hotchkiss 5-barrel revolving guns were mounted in the superstructure. They fired a shell weighing about at a muzzle velocity of about , for a range of about , with a rate of fire of about 30 rounds per minute.

Armor

The ''John Ericsson''-class ships had a complete waterline armor belt of wrought iron high and thick. The armor consisted of five plates backed by of wood. The lower edge of this belt was three plates () thick. The maximum thickness of the armored deck was in two layers. The gun turret's armor consisted of twelve layers of iron, totalling in thickness on the first four monitors. The inside of the turret was lined with mattresses to catch splinters. The base of the turret was protected with a glacis, high, and the turret's roof was 127 millimeters thick. The conning tower was positioned on top of the turret and its sides were ten layers () thick. The funnel was protected by six layers of armor with a total thickness of up to half its height.

Service

The Norwegians had built one monitor-type ship of their own, , in 1865, and laid down several others, but the Norwegian Parliament authorized construction of ''Mjølner'' in 1867 in Sweden at the cost of 1,102,000 Norwegian krone.The exact relationship between the Norwegian and the ''John Ericsson'' class is unclear. Harris 1994 says that the ''Skorpionen'' class merely had five, instead of four, boilers and were otherwise identical, see p. 34. But Gardiner cites slightly different dimensions and counts ''Mjølner'' as part of the class, see p. 368, as does Silverstone, p. 350 She was launched in 1868 and completed on 7 September of that year.Harris 1994, p. 27 ''Mjølner'' ran aground at Kragerø on 21 June 1869, and could not be pulled off the rocks until the ship's ammunition, iron ballast and of coal were removed. Her repairs were completed on 7 July 1869 by the Royal Dockyard at Horten, at the cost of 5,000 krone. The court of inquiry found the ship's commander and the pilot liable for the repairs, but the parliament released the two from their obligation two years later.Harris 1995, p. 172 She was visited by King Charles XV of Sweden when visiting one of Sweden's west-coast ports in the early 1870s. ''Mjølner'' was laid up after her refit in 1897, but was mobilized during 1905 when the personal union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved. She returned to reserve afterward, and was sold for scrap in 1909.

Notes

Footnotes

References

*
*
*
*
*

External links

Naval History via Flix: ''Skorpionen''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mjolner
John Ericsson-class monitors of the Royal Norwegian Navy
Skorpionen-class monitors
Ships built in Norrköping
1868 ships