HNoMS ''Uller'' was a ''Vale''-class Rendel gunboat constructed 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 ...

at Karljohansverns Verft Naval Yard 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 ...

in 1874-1876 and had yard build number 55. She was one of a class of five gunboats - the other ships in the class were ''Vale'', ''Brage'', ''Nor'' and ''Vidar''. ''Uller'' was, in addition to the heavy, muzzle-loading main gun, armed with a small Quick Fire gun and a 37mm

Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch (42 mm) light mountain gun; there were also a navy (47 mm) and a 3-inch (76&nbs ...

(broadly similar to the

Gatling gun The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon. The Gatling gun's operation centered on a cyc ...

). Later ''Uller'' and her sister ships were rebuilt as minelayers, and she served in this role when the Germans invaded 9 April 1940.

The invasion

Capture

When the Germans attacked, ''Uller'' was mining the sea lanes to

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

, and was taken by surprise by the German forces.

Sinking

After being pressed into

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 It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic.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 ...

service ''Uller'' and fellow captured minelayer HNoMS ''Tyr'' were mining the entrance to the still Norwegian-held

Sognefjorden The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the smal ...

on 1 May 1940 when they were first bombed unsuccessfully by two Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service

Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.11 The Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.11 (or Høver M.F.11, for its designer) was a three-seat, single-engine biplane used by the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service for maritime reconnaissance in the decade before the Second World War. The M.F.11 was ...

maritime reconnaissance aircraft of the Sognefjord Air Group and then attacked again later the same day by a Heinkel He 115 of the same unit. In the second attack ''Uller'' was hit by a bomb, beached and then scuttled by ''Tyr''.

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Naval history via Flix: KNM Vale
retrieved 27 Feb 2006 Vale-class gunboats Ships built in Horten 1876 ships World War II minelayers of Norway Naval ships of Norway captured by Germany during World War II Minelayers of the Kriegsmarine World War II minelayers of Germany World War II shipwrecks in the Norwegian Sea Maritime incidents in May 1940 Ships sunk by Norwegian aircraft Ships sunk with no fatalities {{Norway-mil-ship-stub