HSMS Tre Kronor (CA-1940)
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These two powerful cruisers were knocking at the border of capital ship power. Like a lot of the large cruisers built at the end of the 1930's where no restrictions allowed all navies to build the size and how heavily armed they wanted their cruisers to be, the two Tre Kronor were built in answer to what the Scandinavians saw their potential enemies building, namely the Germanic States Moltke class large cruisers. A new 210mm / 8.3" gun was developed for the new ships utilising all the new technologies that were available at the time. This allowed the guns to fire 50% faster than the common 4-5 rounds a minute of the 200-210mm (7.9-8.3") guns of other constructors.
The secondary armament kept with the excellent 4.7" twin dual purpose mounting of which space for seven turrets was found. The lack of an aircraft carrier meant that all of the large cruisers and capital ships had to be fitted with aircraft handling facilities so that the fleet/ship could have some form of search and spotting arrangements. Only 40mm mountings were fitted to the ships and the heavier guns with their better knock down rate proved themselves even better when advanced radar was added to their targeting systems. A set of torpedoes on each broadside finished off the armament of a pair of very effective, powerful and good looking cruisers
| Displacement | 15,700 tons standard, 20,400 tons full load |
| Length | 612.5 ft |
| Breadth | 65.5 ft |
| Draught | 22 ft |
| Machinery | 4 shaft steam turbines, 90,000shp |
| Speed | 32 knots |
| Range | 5000 miles at 15 knots (1800 at 30 knots) |
| Armour | 5.9" side, 3.4" deck, 6.1"/4.1"/2.6" turrets |
| Armament | 12 x 8.3" (4x3) 14 x 4.7" (7x2) 24 x 40mm (12x2) |
| Aircraft | 2 |
| Complement | 950 |
| Notes | HSMS
Tre Kronor HSMS Valkyrie |
The Scandinavian Navy purchased a license to build the Hawker Osprey as the fleets onboard aircraft. These aircraft gave great service from 1934 onwards. They were not replaced in service till the Scandinavian Navy gained access to the later CUS floatplanes, or else the aircraft handling facilities were removed from a ship.