HSwMS Niord

HSwMS Niord was a Swedish first-class coastal defence ship (Pansarskepp) of the Oden-class coastal defence ship. A follow-on to the name-ship of the class HSWMS Oden, Niord differed in having improved Harvey steel armour and two additional casemate-mounted 12 cm guns. The vessel was launched in 1899 in Gothenburg. After an update completed in 1917 that radically altered the ship's appearance by replacing the two funnels with one, Niord was retired from front-line service in 1922. After serving as a barracks ship and tender supporting, in 1925, the seaplanes of what would become the Roslagen Air Corps, unemployed sailors in Stockholm in 1931 and the Cabin Boy Corps (Skeppsgossekåren) of Marstrand in 1935, the vessel was rearmed as an anti-aircraft battery during the Second World War. Decommissioned in 1944, Niord was broken up in Karlskrona in 1945.

Design and development
Niord was the second member of the Oden-class coastal defence ship, a development of the earlier Svea-class coastal defence ship. Originally ordered to be a lone ship type, HSWMS Oden proved to be such a success that the Swedish Navy ordered two similar vessels on 5 May 1896 to create a three-ship class of first-class coastal defence ships, or Pansarskeppen, able to take a place in the Swedish battle line. The new ships differed from their predecessor in having improved steel, which allowed a reduction of 200 LT in weight, and thus the addition of two more casemate-mounted 12 cm guns. A hallmark of the improved design was extensive use of electric power, with Niord having 13 electric motors, nearly twice as many as Oden. Despite the differences, the three vessels are considered members of the same Oden class. As they were named after characters in Norse mythology, the ships are also known as the mythological class.

Niord had an overall length of 86.3 m and measured 84.9 m at the waterline, a beam of 14.77 m and a maximum draught of 5.5 m. Displacement was 3328 LT normal and 3720 LT full load. Power was provided by six marine boilers feeding steam to two sets of triple-expansion steam engines provided by Motała AB and rated at 5300 ihp driving two shafts, giving a design speed of 15 kn. During sea trials, on 29 January 1899, the vessel achieved 16.032 kn and in 1900, 16.29 kn. Two funnels were fitted. A full load of 280 LT of coal was carried, which gave a design range of 2500 nmi at 10 kn. After the 1917 reconstruction, coal capacity was expanded to 300 LT, which gave a design range of 2530 nmi at 10 kn. The ship had a complement of 254 officers and ratings.

Armament consisted of two single Bofors 25 cm M1894 C guns mounted in turrets on the ship's centreline, one fore and the other aft. Each of the guns weighed 29.075 t. With an actual calibre of 25.4 cm, the guns were manufactured by Bofors from forgings provided by Whitworth, the first time the Swedish arms manufacturer had built a weapon of this size. They could fire a 450 lb shell at a muzzle velocity of 2362 ft/s. The mounting, designated M1894, used electric training and manual elevation. Secondary armament consisted of six Bofors 12 cm guns mounted three each side singularly in casemates amidships. The central guns could traverse 136 degrees, while the outside weapons were limited to 115 degrees. The ship was also armed with a tertiary armament of ten single Bofors 5.7 cm guns, two on the forward bridge, four on the forward superstructure, two on the aft superstructure and two on the aft bridge. Two 25 mm machine guns were carried by the pinnaces and two 8 mm were mounted on the tops. A single submerged 17.7 in torpedo tube was mounted in the bow. Four 90 cm searchlights were carried.

The armour was Harvey steel provided by John Brown & Company of Sheffield. It included a 50 m-long armoured belt that was between 100 and 240 mm thick and 1.48 m high. The main armament was protected by barbettes that were 200 mm thick and turrets 190 mm thick with a roof 30 mm thick. The secondary armament sat on barbettes protected by 100 mm nickel-steel armour, the turrets having a face 125 mm thick, sides 60 mm thick and a roof 48 mm thick. The armour on the casemates was 91 mm thick. The conning tower was protected by 190 mm armour and the deck was protected by two layers that had a combined thickness of 49.5 mm thick.

Construction and career
Niord was ordered from the Lindholmens shipyard in Gothenburg at a cost of SEK 1,871,000, and named on 22 August 1896. Laid down in 1896, the ship, named after the Norse god Niord, was launched on 31 March 1898 and commissioned on 23 February 1899. The warship was not equipped as a flagship, but was designed to be converted if necessary. In 1902, bilge keels were added to aid stability. On 20 February 1904, the vessel was briefly activated in response to activity from the Imperial Russian Navy during the Russo-Japanese War but saw no action. Between 19 and 24 August 1906, the vessel joined sister ship Oden and other ships of the Swedish Navy to host the British Cruiser Squadron under Admiral Sir Day Bosanquet at Gothenburg. During the same year, one 37 mm gun was added to each of the ship's boats and, on 16 September 1908, the 8 mm guns were removed from the tops.

In 1914, the vessel was taken out of service and sent to Karlskrona to be upgraded. The funnels were replaced by a single funnel, which radically altered the vessel's appearance, and the arrangement of the bridge and conning tower was altered to help the gunnery observers. The tertiary armament, machine guns and torpedo tube were all removed. Instead, six upgraded 5.7 cm guns were mounted on the superstructure. New boilers were also fitted, which slightly improved performance. Niord resumed service in 1917, and briefly provided support to Sweden's neutrality in the First World War, but this did not last long as there was limited opportunity to serve before the Armistice of 11 November 1918.

Declared obsolete, the vessel was taken out of front-line service and redeployed as a barracks ship in Karlskrona on 7 July 1922. On 22 August, Niord was re-equipped to also act as a tender and, on 12 May 1925, moved to Hägernäs to support the development of what would become the Roslagen Air Corps and their seaplanes, replacing the corvette HSWMS Freja. However, soon after, on 25 June, the vessel was ordered to transfer to the naval school at Hårsfjärden, arriving on 13 February the following year to serve as a barracks ship for the cadets. On 4 December 1931, the ship was temporarily contracted to the Stockholm Municipality to provide accommodation for unemployed sailors due to the dramatic increase in unemployment that was occurring before being transferred to Marstrand on 11 April 1935 to serve as a base for the Cabin Boy Corps (Skeppsgossekåren). When the corps was closed down in 1939, Niord was towed back to Hårsfjärden to act as a barracks ship again.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the warship was assessed for viability and declared unfit for combat. However, the Navy felt that there was still the opportunity for the vessel to serve as an anti-aircraft battery and four Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns were added. Niord saw no combat and, in 1944, was decommissioned and assigned as a target ship, finally being broken up at Karlskrona in 1945. The ship's aft gun was transferred to the coastal artillery battery at Slite before finally being deactivated and placed on display as an exhibit at the Marinmuseum on the island of Stumholmen.