HSwMS Äran

HSwMS ''Äran''"HSwMS" here stands for "'' Hans/Hennes Majestäts Skepp''" ( Swedish language: "Honour") was a Swedish first class coastal defence ship (''Pansarskepp''). A development of , the Äran class mounted the same main guns, but differed in the layout of the secondary armament. The vessel was launched in 1901 by Gustaf V breaking a bottle of champagne on her bow, the last time that ceremony took place following complaints that breaking wine on a ship was sacrilegious. The warship served on neutrality patrols in the First World War and was damaged after running aground in 1932. In the period immediately before the Second World War, the ship's armament was deemed out of date, and in 1939 and 1940 significant improvement to the vessel's anti-aircraft capability were made with the addition of , and guns. After the war, the Swedish Navy decided to retire all its coastal defence ships. ''Äran'' was retired in 1947 and sold to be broken up in 1951, the last sections of the ship finally sinking in 1968.

Design and development

Between 1880 and 1905 the Swedish Navy launched 12 coastal defence ships, to counter the Imperial Russian Navy. The was a development of retaining the same main armament but with the secondary armament mounted in turrets to improve protection and angles of fire. ''Äran'' was the lead of the class. Originally designated armoured boats () in Swedish, the vessels were reclassified as armoured ships () in the 1920s.

''Äran'' had an overall length of and measured at the waterline, a beam of and a maximum draught of . Normal displacement was although, in 1912, displacement was reported as . Eight Yarrow boilers fed steam to two sets of triple-expansion steam engines provided by Motała AB and rated at driving two shafts, giving a design speed of . Two funnels were fitted. A full load of of coal was carried, which gave a design range of at . During sea trials, on 21 August 1902, the vessel achieved at . The ship had a complement of 285 officers and ratings, later expanded to 301.

Armament consisted of two single Bofors guns mounted in turrets on the ship's centreline, one fore and the other aft. Each of the guns weighed and could fire a shell at a muzzle velocity of . The mounting, designated M1894, used electric training and manual elevation. Secondary armament consisted of six Bofors guns mounted singularly in turrets amidships. These guns, which had an actual calibre of and weighed , could fire a shell at a muzzle velocity of . The M1899 mounting was manually trained and elevated. The ship was also armed with a tertiary armament of eight single Bofors guns distributed around the superstructure and two submerged Elswick torpedo tubes for torpedoes.

Armour included a -long armoured belt that was thick amidships. It consisted of surface-hardened Krupp armour backed by of teak. The main armament was protected by barbettes were thick and turrets having an armouted face thick and the remainder thick. The secondary armament sat on barbettes protected by nickel-steel armour, the turrets having a face thick, sides thick and a roof thick. The conning tower was protected by armour. Flat to the belt was deck armour that was thick. Four searchlights were carried. A rangefinder was fitted in 1906.

Construction and career

''Äran'' was ordered from the Lindholmens shipyard in Gothenburg, on 12 October 1898 at a cost of SEK 2,698,000. The ship was the second of the name, which can be translated "honour", in service with the navy. Laid down in 1899, the ship was launched on 14 August 1901 and completed on 7 September 1902. Delivery had been delayed by three months because, on 23 January 1900, it had been decided to equip the vessel as a flagship, so additional accommodation was fitted for a flag officer and the attendant staff required to serve in this role. Gustaf V launched the ship by breaking a bottle of champagne on her bow. However, complaints from a prelate that breaking wine of a ship was sacrilegious meant that this was the last time this ceremony was performed. The ship was commissioned into the coastal defence fleet based at Karlskrona.

Between 19 and 24 August 1906, the vessel joined sister ship and other ships of the Swedish Navy to host the British Cruiser Squadron under Admiral Day Bosanquet at Gothenburg. After a refit in 1914, the ship served during the First World War protecting the nation's trade routes and shipping fleet due to Sweden's neutrality in the war. On 30 April 1932, the warship ran aground in the Stockholm Archipelago, damaging the steering gear so badly that the ship slewed 90 degrees. One of the compartments flooded, but otherwise damage was minimal and the crew managed to release the vessel without assistance. Repairs took two weeks to complete. Shortly afterwards, the rudder broke in high seas and ''Äran'' was once again repaired, this time at Hårsfjärden. The ship was decommissioned and placed in reserve in 1933.

At the cusp of the Second World War, on September 1939, the ship was recommissioned. An assessment of the weaponry found it was outdated. Particularly, it was considered that the main armament, which had a daytime range of but only at night, would be easily outranged by modern German and Soviet guns. The engines were in poor condition, with the vessel incapable of exceeding . The anchor chain and other equipment was also tired and needing replacing. A refit was undertaken, in which the tertiary artillery was replaced by four Bofors and two Bofors anti-aircraft guns added. During the following year, the torpedo tubes were removed and two Bofors anti-aircraft were added. The warship joined the squadron at Åland, returning to Karskrona before long. In 1942, the ship was decommissioned, hulked and redeployed as a floating barracks. After the war, Sweden decided to retire the whole fleet of coastal defence ships. On 13 June 1947, ''Äran'' was taken out of service and, in 1951, was sold to Marinverkstaderna of Karlskrona to be broken up. The vessel was partially cut up, some of the hull being repurposed as a pontoon near Falkenberg. This sank on 1 November 1968 at a depth of .

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aran
1901 ships
Äran-class coastal defence ships
Ships built in Gothenburg
Shipwrecks in the Kattegat
Shipwrecks of Sweden