Lewin of Greenwich Naval History & Forum

Minor fire on board submarine HNoMS Utstein yesterday while operating off Norwegian coast. Returned to harbour under own power and 3 submariners taken to hospital but no serious injuries reported.

See - https://www.forsvaretsforum.no/sjo-sjof ... bat/346783
Library photo attached.

Navy Lookout
The Type 26 frigate design is a very strong contender for the Norwegian Navy's requirement for 6 ASW ships

Naval News
The Royal Norwegian Navy is looking for international naval and industrial partners to help deliver and support its prospective future frigate:
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... e-frigate/

Norwegian Coast Guard, Jan Mayen Class OPV KV Bjørnøya pictured during Exercise 'Nordic Response 2024' on March 7th 2024.

International women’s day

Captain (later Commodore) Solveig Krey, Norwegian Navy. In 1995 she became the first female commander of a submarine in the world.
How far has the would come since then?

‘Strong bond’ with Norway honoured as naval cadets visit Scalloway

A CEREMONY was held at the Shetland Bus memorial in Scalloway this morning (Thursday) as Norwegian naval academy cadets visit Shetland.

The cadets are in Shetland on board the sail training vessel Statsraad Lehmkuhl.

The event heard speeches, including from representative of the Shetland Bus Friendship Society councillor Stephen Leask, while wreathes were laid too.

He paid tribute to the strong bond between Shetland and Norway.

“The brave men remembered here fought for the freedom of their nation, and this gathering today celebrates the commitment made by our young Norwegian visitors who continue to cherish and honour that freedom,” Leask said.

The Shetland Bus operation played a crucial role during the World War II German occupation of Norway.

Under the cover of darkness, a group of small boats – collectively known as the Shetland Bus – ferried people and weapons between Shetland and Norway, with Scalloway used as a port.

Initially it operated informally using fishing boats, before it then became a formal part of the war effort completing more than 200 trips.

Not all of those trips were successful, and 44 lives were lost during the crossings. However, the introduction of sub-chaser ships in 1943 brought an end to the fatalities.

The Shetland Bus memorial, which pays tribute to the 44 crewmen lost on the missions and has a model of a fishing boat used in the operation, sits just along the road from the Prince Olav slipway where vessels were repaired.

Work to reconstruct the slipway and a cradle there to honour the Shetland Bus operation and act as a historical wartime exhibit is progressing.

See - https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2024/03/14/w ... -honoured/ - LFT
And links towards foot of article.

Original blueprint for Tordenskjold Class Coastal Defense Ship HNoMS Harald Haarfagre, she was built at Sir W G Armstrong, Mitchell & Co, Low Walker Shipyards at Elswick, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and commissioned in 1898, she performed ordinary duties until she was considered "unfit for war"in the mid-1930s and disarmed. After the German invasion of Norway, she was seized by the Germans and rebuilt as a floating flak battery under the name Thetis. After the war she was used briefly as a floating barracks, and for transporting German POWs before she was sold for breaking in 1948.

The Norwegian cargo ship SS Telefon pictured in the Floating Dry Dock at Algiers, New Orleans Louisiana in 1903....She was built at Wood, Skinner & Company Limited Shipyard at Bill Quay in 1900 on the River Tyne. She was used to carry cargos to the Antarctic whaling ships of Christen Christensen. On one such voyage, carrying coal and empty barrels from Rotterdam, she struck a reef at the entrance to Admiralty Bay, South Shetland Islands on December 26th 1908. Capt Adolfus Andresen, Norwegian owner of the Sociedad Ballenera de Magallanes of Punta Arenas, Chile which used Deception Island as a whale factory ship base, salved the Telefon, putting her aground at Port Foster, Deception Island, where she was eventually refloated and returned to service with the whaling fleet. That resumption of trading was brief as she was acquired in 1910 by The Greenock & Grangemouth Dockyard Co Ltd of Greenock, transferred to the British flag and registered at Grangemouth. The following year she was sold to the Lovart Steamship Co Ltd, Glasgow, under the management of Love, Stewart & Co, Bo'ness, who renamed her Kinneil. She foundered following a collision with the German steamship Denebola on October 30th 1913, 75 miles West of the Scaw, Denmark in the Skagerrak, while on voyage from Vilajoki, Finland to Bo'ness carrying pit props. The crew of 18 and the one passenger on board were all rescued.