HSMS Ornen (TCM/DD-1913)
Return to Scandinavian Navy Page:
The Bird of Prey class (go the Klingons!) were laid down in 1908-09. Originally to have been a class of four only the first two were completed. The funds for the next two were diverted to the Jamtland class light cruisers. The first designs for the ships were shown with the main deck taken right through to the stern giving a long lean ship. Being a small navy and requiring their ships to be able to fulfill more than one duty the Scandinavian designers were ordered to add a mine deck aft, which is where the ships gained their poop decks. Originally designated as Torpedo Cruisers, this designation changed to Torpedo Cruiser Minelayers, and eventually the ships were re-rated down to training destroyers from the mid 1930's.
One of the stand out features of the ships was the heavy torpedo armement of thirteen 17.7" torpedo tubes. These were mounted with six twin mountings on the broadsides and one tube mounted in the bow of the ship. The two ships were armed with six 3.9" guns. The poop mine deck could contain 34-40 mines depending on size and type. A speed of 25 knots was quite fast for its time and the ships were allocated to the Oresund Patrol on completion. They spent most of their active service career acting as leaders to the torpedo boat flotillas of the Oresund Patrol.
The two ships served the Scandinavian Navy well through to the mid 1930's when they were reduced to secondary duties. They were not discarded mainly due to the fact that there were very few ships in the Scandinavian Navy that could be used for minelaying operations. The main upgrades that were given to the ships was the fitting of the 3.9" onto dual purpose AA mountings and the fitting of one 40mm and four 20mm AA guns. During these times the number of torpedo tubes were reduced to just the aft most set on each side, with the areas the other sets were removed from being plated in to provide accomodation to the trainees that were the ships main contribution during the late 1930's and 1940's as training ships.
| Displacement | 1190 tons standard, 1330 tons full load |
| Length | 293 ft |
| Breadth | 30 ft |
| Draught | 9 ft |
| Machinery | 2 shaft tripple expansion, 9,000ihp |
| Speed | 25 knots |
| Range | 2000 miles at 10 knots (500 at 24 knots) |
| Armament | 6 x 3.9" (6x1) |
| Torpedoes | 13 x 17.7" (6x2 1x1) |
| Mines | 34-40 |
| Complement | 170 |
| Notes | HSMS Ornen |
Single 3.9" as mounted on the Ornen class Torpedo Cruiser Minelayers.