The ''Sleipner'' class was a class of six

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s 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 ...

from 1936 until the German invasion in 1940. The design was considered advanced for its time, and it was the first class of vessels for the Norwegian Navy that used aluminium in the construction of the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, the

mast Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to: Engineering * Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship * Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag * Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires * Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship * Radio mast ...

and the outer funnel. Extra strength special steel was used in the construction of the

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

. Unlike the earlier the ''Sleipner'' class had comparatively good capabilities in both main guns,

anti-aircraft artillery Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

and anti-submarine weapons. The class was named after

Sleipnir In Norse mythology, Sleipnir (Old Norse: ; "slippy"Orchard (1997:151). or "the slipper"Kermode (1904:6).) is an eight-legged horse ridden by Odin. Sleipnir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional ...

, the eight-legged horse of

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

Armament

The armament within the class varied slightly. ''Æger'' had the armament listed in the article info-box. ''Sleipner'', the lead ship of the class, carried just two 10 cm guns and could not elevate them for use as anti-aircraft weapons. ''Gyller'' had two extra torpedo tubes, for a total of four. ''

'' had a 20 mm anti aircraft gun instead of a 40 mm. ''Balder'' and ''Tor'' had not been finished when the Germans attacked, and it is not known if any changes in armament were planned. Although classified by the Norwegians as destroyers they have been widely regarded as torpedo boats because of their displacement and armament.Roger Chesneau (ed.), ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946'', London, 1992, , p. 379

Fates

The vessels had quite different fates. ''Æger'' was bombed by German planes on 9 April 1940, and wrecked with loss of life. ''Sleipner'' was in Norwegian service throughout

World War II 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 ...

, and was kept in service until 1959. ''Gyller'' and ''Odin'' were captured by the Germans in 1940 at

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporation ...

. ''Balder'' and ''Tor'' were captured unfinished at the shipyard and put into German service after completion. ''Gyller'' and ''Odin'' were returned to the Royal Norwegian Navy after the war and kept in service until 1959. Finished by the Germans, ''Balder'' and ''Tor'' were used by them until the end of the war in 1945. Balder was scrapped in 1952, Tor in 1959. The Germans re-classed the ships as ''

Torpedoboot Ausland The ''Torpedoboot Ausland'' ("foreign torpedo boats") were small destroyers or large torpedo boats captured by Nazi Germany and incorporated into the Kriegsmarine. They were assigned a number beginning with TA. Ex-French ships *Former French s, ...

'' and renamed them: ''Gyller'' to ''Löwe'', ''Odin'' to ''Panther'', ''Balder'' to ''Leopard'', and ''Tor'' to ''Tiger''. In 1945 ''Löwe'' was one of the escorts to the ''

Wilhelm Gustloff Wilhelm Gustloff (30 January 1895 – 4 February 1936) was the founder of the Swiss NSDAP/AO (the Nazi Party organisation for German citizens living outside Germany) at Davos. He remained its leader from 1932 until he was assassinated in 193 ...

'' on her last voyage. The ''Wilhelm Gustloff'' was torpedoed and sank with a great loss of life. During the sinking, ''Löwe'' came alongside and rescued 472 of her passengers and crew.

Armament

Fates

Ship list

Footnotes

References

Literature