ORIGINAL: warspite1
I thought I would have a re-vamp of the Norwegian units - and this is an example:
[4951 Norge]
Modernizations: 1927 and 1939
Royal Norwegian Navy prefix is: RNoN or KNM (Kongelig Norske Marine)
ORIGINAL: warspite1
Second of three counters concerning Operation Weserübung: A German Transport Counter.
[4823 Transport
I'm pretty sure you meant "MS" to mean "Merchant Ship".
In naval terms "MS" also means "A ship specifically designed as a Minesweeper".
You might want to use "SS" or "S.S." which stands for "Steam Ship" and used on civilian ships.
[4951 Norge]
.B Engine(s) output: 4,500 hp
.B Top Speed: 16.5 knots
.B Main armament: 2 x 8.2-inch (210mm), 6 x 5.9-inch (150mm) guns
.B Displacement (standard): 3,645 tons
.B Thickest armour: 6-inch (belt)
.P The Norge-class coastal battleships (Panserships), consisted of two ships;
Norge and Eidsvold.
The British built both ships for the Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) at the turn of the century.
.P Although, relatively powerful at the time of their launch, their main armament
was no more than a standard heavy cruiser; 8-inches. Two such guns were mounted
in two single turrets. Their secondary armament featured six, single 5.9-inch
guns that were mounted in casemates. Eight 3-inch guns were fitted in four twin
turrets and for anti-aircraft (AA) defence, two 3-pdr guns were mounted. Their
weapons package was rounded off by with 18-inch torpedo tubes.
.P 6-inch belt armour was modest for this vessel type, and like their main
armament, this did not compare even to Swedish coastal defence ships of similar
vintage.
An armoured deck, 2-inches thick, provided horizontal defence.
.P Speed was of secondary importance for coastal battleships, and the Norge-class
ships were no exception.
The ships 4,500 horsepower engine (s) produced a top speed of just 16.5 knots.
.P The two ships were named as follows: Norge was named after the country she
served, while Eidsvold was named after the town, north of Oslo, where the
Norwegian Constitution was signed in May 1814.
.P
RNoN Norge was commissioned in 1901. In April 1940 she was part of the 1st
Pansership Division (PD) along with her sister ship. The 1st PD was placed in the
north of the country to defend the port of Narvik, and it was here that both
ships met their end during the opening hours of the war with Germany (see
RNoN
Eidsvold).
.P Following the conquest of Norway, which was complete by June 1940, thousands
of men from the RNN escaped to the United Kingdom and continued the fight against
the Germans using equipment supplied by the Royal Navy.
The ships in which they fought were too small (typically destroyers and smaller) and too few in number to warrant an individual counter at the World In Flames scale.
However, an overview of their contribution to the ultimate Allied victory is worth recording
here.
.P At the start of the Second World War, the RNN comprised fifty-nine warships,
together with a similar number of auxiliary vessels. However, like most countries
during the inter-war years, defence expenditure had been curtailed, and as a
result, only a third of the warships then in service had been launched post World
War I.
.P The main strength of the RNN was centred upon two antiquated coastal defence
ships of the Norge-class. They were supported by four destroyers, thirty-two
torpedo boats, three submarines, two sloops and ten minelayers; all of varying -
but mostly old - vintage. In an effort to modernise the navy, six submarines had
been built in the twenties, and these were followed by orders for two destroyers,
six
torpedo boatsand a number of smaller vessels during the following decade.
However, the war came to Norway before the destroyers and two of the torpedo-
boats could be completed.
.P As can be imagined, the RNN was in little position to offer much resistance to
the Kriegsmarine - especially given the surprise achieved by the German armed
forces. The German plan was to land troops at vital points along the extended
Norwegian coastline, but mainly in the south, between Oslo and Trondheim.
.P Unfortunately for Norwegian hopes, with a couple of notable exceptions, the
fighting was to be almost completely one-sided (see
RNoN Harald Haarfagre).
Only a handful of vessels managed to escape to the United Kingdom, and the invaders captured many ships.
.P This debacle did not set the tone for what followed however. The men and ships
of the large Norwegian merchant marine contributed greatly to the British cause
during the Second World War (see Transport Counters 4953-6) and, though small in
number, their military counterparts also gave excellent service to the Allies.
.P The few Norwegian ships that managed to escape were mostly too old to be of
much use during the rest of the war. However, the British, and later the United
States, were able to supply a number of vessels that were then manned by
Norwegian sailors. To assist the Royal Navy in their fight against the U-boats in
the Atlantic, the US Navy had transferred fifty old destroyers to the British in
1940. Five of these ships were passed on to the RNN, HNoM ships: Bath, Lincoln,
Mansfield, Newport and St Albans.
.P These vessels provided valuable service, especially in the early part of the
war when the U-boats had the upper hand in the vitally important Battle of the
Atlantic. But their contribution came at a price. In August 1941, Lt-Cdr F Melsom
and 85 officers and crew died when
RNoN Bath was torpedoed and sunk by U-204
while escorting the Gibraltar bound convoy OG71. Earlier that same month,
RNoN
St Albans was involved in the sinking of U-401 while escorting convoy SL81.
.P The old US destroyers were gradually retired from service over time as
sufficient new escort vessels came off the stocks. Six Flower and one Castle-
class corvette were handed over to the Norwegians between 1941 and 1944:
Acanthus, Eglatine and Potentilla all survived the war. But Montbretia was lost,
with 47 crew, to an attack by U-262 in November 1942. She had been escorting
convoy ONS 144 at the time. Also lost was the Rose,
that was sunk in October
1944 following a collision with the Royal Navy frigate, HMS Manners. Last but not
least, Tunsberg Castle was also sunk after hitting a mine, while escorting Arctic
convoy RA62 in December 1944.
5 crewmen lost their lives.
.P Three larger escorts that saw service with the RNN were the Hunt-class
destroyer escorts. HMS Badsworth was transferred from the Royal Navy in November
1944 and re-named Arendal; Eskdale and Glaisdale were commissioned straight into
the RNN in March and June 1942 respectively. In Norwegian hands, Arendal saw
action against German E-boats in the English Channel, and it was in this theatre
that Eskdale saw her single year of service. She torpedoed the German auxiliary
Sperrbrecher 144 while off the coast of Northern France in December 1942. Sadly,
four months later she was lost, while escorting convoy PW323, at the hands of the
German E-boat S-90. Glaisdale too had a career that lasted just over a year,
before being mined while in the English Channel in June 1944. She survived the
mine damage, but her war was over.
.P Three British U-class submarines were manned by the RNN during the war: P-41
(re-named Uredd); Variance (Utsira) and Varne (Ula). Uredd, under Lt-Cdr R Roren
was transferred to the RNN in 1942, but was lost with all hands in February of
the following year while patrolling off the coast of Norway. Ula was transferred
to the RNN in April 1943. She too was ordered to Norway, where she achieved
considerable success, including the sinking of the U-boat U-974 in April 1944.
Utsira was only commissioned in August 1944 but she also achieved some success,
sinking two enemy ships off the Norwegian coast.
.P The largest ships to serve with the RNN during the Second World War were two
former Royal Navy S-class destroyers: HM Ships Shark (re-named Svenner) and
Success (Stord). Svenner transferred to the RNN in March 1944 and she took part
in Operation Neptune, the naval component of the Normandy landings, three months
later. Svenner was operating off Sword Beach on the 6th June, when at 0537hrs,
she was torpedoed by a German E-boat. She was cut in two by the explosion; her
broken hull briefly forming a V-shape before she disappeared beneath the waves
with 33 of her crew. Stord meanwhile, had been transferred to the Norwegians in
August 1943. Under Lt-Cdr S Storheill, she was to achieve notable success as part
of the Royal Navy force that sunk the German battlecruiser, Scharnhorst, at the
Battle of North Cape in December 1943. After Scharnhorst had been slowed thanks
to damage caused by a shell from the battleship Duke Of York, the four S-class
destroyers: Saumarez, Savage, Scorpion and Stord, launched a pincer attack on the
German ship. Scharnhorst was hit by numerous
torpedoes, which were to seal her
fate.
.P Those vessels mentioned above were not the only ships to be manned by officers
and men of the RNN between 1940 and 1945; there were numerous smaller vessels
that saw service too, but lack of space precludes mentioning every ship. However,
the men aboard all vessels - big and small - undoubtedly played their part in the
ultimate Allied victory.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[4951 Norge]
.B Engine(s) output: 4,500 hp
.B Top Speed: 16.5 knots
.B Main armament: 2 x 8.2-inch (210mm), 6 x 5.9-inch (150mm) guns
.B Displacement (standard): 3,645 tons
.B Thickest armour: 6-inch (belt)
.P The Norge-class coastal battleships (Panserships), consisted of two ships;
Norge and Eidsvold.
The British built both ships for the Royal Norwegian Navy (KNM) at the turn of the century.
.P Although, relatively powerful at the time of their launch, their main armament
was no more than a standard heavy cruiser; 8-inches. Two such guns were mounted
in two single turrets. Their secondary armament featured six, single 5.9-inch
guns that were mounted in casemates. Eight 3-inch guns were fitted in four twin
turrets and for anti-aircraft (AA) defence, two 3-pdr guns were mounted. Their
weapons package was rounded off by with 18-inch torpedo tubes.
.P 6-inch belt armour was modest for this vessel type, and like their main
armament, this did not compare even to Swedish coastal defence ships of similar
vintage.
An armoured deck, 2-inches thick, provided horizontal defence.
.P Speed was of secondary importance for coastal battleships, and the Norge-class
ships were no exception.
The ships 4,500 horsepower engine (s) produced a top speed of just 16.5 knots.
.P The two ships were named as follows: Norge was named after the country she
served, while Eidsvold was named after the town, north of Oslo, where the
Norwegian Constitution was signed in May 1814.
.P
KNM Norge was commissioned in 1901. In April 1940 she was part of the 1st
Pansership Division (PD) along with her sister ship. The 1st PD was placed in the
north of the country to defend the port of Narvik, and it was here that both
ships met their end during the opening hours of the war with Germany (see
KNM
Eidsvold).
.P Following the conquest of Norway, which was complete by June 1940, thousands
of men from the RNN escaped to the United Kingdom and continued the fight against
the Germans using equipment supplied by the Royal Navy.
The ships in which they fought were too small (typically destroyers and smaller) and too few in number to warrant an individual counter at the World In Flames scale.
However, an overview of their contribution to the ultimate Allied victory is worth recording
here.
.P At the start of the Second World War, the RNN comprised fifty-nine warships,
together with a similar number of auxiliary vessels. However, like most countries
during the inter-war years, defence expenditure had been curtailed, and as a
result, only a third of the warships then in service had been launched post World
War I.
.P The main strength of the RNN was centred upon two antiquated coastal defence
ships of the Norge-class. They were supported by four destroyers, thirty-two
torpedo boats, three submarines, two sloops and ten minelayers; all of varying -
but mostly old - vintage. In an effort to modernise the navy, six submarines had
been built in the twenties, and these were followed by orders for two destroyers,
six
torpedo boatsand a number of smaller vessels during the following decade.
However, the war came to Norway before the destroyers and two of the torpedo-
boats could be completed.
.P As can be imagined, the RNN was in little position to offer much resistance to
the Kriegsmarine - especially given the surprise achieved by the German armed
forces. The German plan was to land troops at vital points along the extended
Norwegian coastline, but mainly in the south, between Oslo and Trondheim.
.P Unfortunately for Norwegian hopes, with a couple of notable exceptions, the
fighting was to be almost completely one-sided (see
KNM Harald Haarfagre).
Only a handful of vessels managed to escape to the United Kingdom, and the invaders captured many ships.
.P This debacle did not set the tone for what followed however. The men and ships
of the large Norwegian merchant marine contributed greatly to the British cause
during the Second World War (see Transport Counters 4953-6) and, though small in
number, their military counterparts also gave excellent service to the Allies.
.P The few Norwegian ships that managed to escape were mostly too old to be of
much use during the rest of the war. However, the British, and later the United
States, were able to supply a number of vessels that were then manned by
Norwegian sailors. To assist the Royal Navy in their fight against the U-boats in
the Atlantic, the US Navy had transferred fifty old destroyers to the British in
1940. Five of these ships were passed on to the RNN, HNoM ships: Bath, Lincoln,
Mansfield, Newport and St Albans.
.P These vessels provided valuable service, especially in the early part of the
war when the U-boats had the upper hand in the vitally important Battle of the
Atlantic. But their contribution came at a price. In August 1941, Lt-Cdr F Melsom
and 85 officers and crew died when
KNM Bath was torpedoed and sunk by U-204
while escorting the Gibraltar bound convoy OG71. Earlier that same month,
KNM
St Albans was involved in the sinking of U-401 while escorting convoy SL81.
.P The old US destroyers were gradually retired from service over time as
sufficient new escort vessels came off the stocks. Six Flower and one Castle-
class corvette were handed over to the Norwegians between 1941 and 1944:
Acanthus, Eglatine and Potentilla all survived the war. But Montbretia was lost,
with 47 crew, to an attack by U-262 in November 1942. She had been escorting
convoy ONS 144 at the time. Also lost was the Rose,
that was sunk in October
1944 following a collision with the Royal Navy frigate, HMS Manners. Last but not
least, Tunsberg Castle was also sunk after hitting a mine, while escorting Arctic
convoy RA62 in December 1944.
5 crewmen lost their lives.
.P Three larger escorts that saw service with the RNN were the Hunt-class
destroyer escorts. HMS Badsworth was transferred from the Royal Navy in November
1944 and re-named Arendal; Eskdale and Glaisdale were commissioned straight into
the RNN in March and June 1942 respectively. In Norwegian hands, Arendal saw
action against German E-boats in the English Channel, and it was in this theatre
that Eskdale saw her single year of service. She torpedoed the German auxiliary
Sperrbrecher 144 while off the coast of Northern France in December 1942. Sadly,
four months later she was lost, while escorting convoy PW323, at the hands of the
German E-boat S-90. Glaisdale too had a career that lasted just over a year,
before being mined while in the English Channel in June 1944. She survived the
mine damage, but her war was over.
.P Three British U-class submarines were manned by the RNN during the war: P-41
(re-named Uredd); Variance (Utsira) and Varne (Ula). Uredd, under Lt-Cdr R Roren
was transferred to the RNN in 1942, but was lost with all hands in February of
the following year while patrolling off the coast of Norway. Ula was transferred
to the RNN in April 1943. She too was ordered to Norway, where she achieved
considerable success, including the sinking of the U-boat U-974 in April 1944.
Utsira was only commissioned in August 1944 but she also achieved some success,
sinking two enemy ships off the Norwegian coast.
.P The largest ships to serve with the RNN during the Second World War were two
former Royal Navy S-class destroyers: HM Ships Shark (re-named Svenner) and
Success (Stord). Svenner transferred to the RNN in March 1944 and she took part
in Operation Neptune, the naval component of the Normandy landings, three months
later. Svenner was operating off Sword Beach on the 6th June, when at 0537hrs,
she was torpedoed by a German E-boat. She was cut in two by the explosion; her
broken hull briefly forming a V-shape before she disappeared beneath the waves
with 33 of her crew. Stord meanwhile, had been transferred to the Norwegians in
August 1943. Under Lt-Cdr S Storheill, she was to achieve notable success as part
of the Royal Navy force that sunk the German battlecruiser, Scharnhorst, at the
Battle of North Cape in December 1943. After Scharnhorst had been slowed thanks
to damage caused by a shell from the battleship Duke Of York, the four S-class
destroyers: Saumarez, Savage, Scorpion and Stord, launched a pincer attack on the
German ship. Scharnhorst was hit by numerous
torpedoes, which were to seal her
fate.
.P Those vessels mentioned above were not the only ships to be manned by officers
and men of the RNN between 1940 and 1945; there were numerous smaller vessels
that saw service too, but lack of space precludes mentioning every ship. However,
the men aboard all vessels - big and small - undoubtedly played their part in the
ultimate Allied victory.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[4823 Transport]
.P World in Flames uses two main types of naval transport counter: Transport
(TRS) and Amphibious (AMPH). The use of these counters depends to an extent on
what optional rules are being used. However, as a general rule, TRS represent
the types of ship that were used to transport men and material from one friendly
port to another, while AMPH represent the specialised shipping that could land
men and material on a hostile shore.
.P TRS not only include troop ships but also other vessels that kept the troops
fighting overseas supplied. These vessels include tankers, munitions ships and
other cargo carrying vessels.
.P As was the case with all nations that fought during World War II, the German
Government had a policy of requisitioning any merchant ship that was required by
the armed forces. This policy included vessels from the German merchant marine
together with ships captured through conquest. Some ships were commissioned into
the Kriegsmarine, converted into auxiliary cruisers, and manned by officers from
the reserves, while others remained crewed by civilians and used as and when
required.
.P This write-up looks at the transport ship Rio de Janeiro.
.B
.B Name: Rio de Janeiro
.B Engine(s) output: Unknown
.B Top Speed: 10.5 knots
.B Main armament: Unknown
.B Gross Tonnage: 5,261 GRT
.B Thickest armour: Not Applicable
.P MS Rio de Janeiro began life as the Santa Inés. She was built in Germany
in 1914 for the Hamburg-Südamerikanische line.
This company operated a fleet of
passenger ships between Germany and South America.
.P At the outbreak of World War I she found herself in Valpariso, Chile, where
she sat out the war. After the Germans surrendered to the Allies in 1918, the
Chileans took the opportunity to seize the vessel, before handing her over to
the British three years later.
.P Santa Inés was eventually sold back to her original owners in 1921, whereupon
she was renamed Rio de Janeiro.
.P Rio de Janeiro was requisitioned by the German authorities in March 1940 and
was prepared for the forthcoming invasion of Norway and Denmark - Operation
Weserübung. Weserübung was the world's first example of a truly combined military
operation; co-operation between the army, navy and air force all being essential
to a successful outcome.
.P The plan for Weserübung, involved almost the entire Kriegsmarine, which was
tasked with transporting troops to various invasion points along the extended
Norwegian and Danish coasts. In support of the warships, whose transport capacity
was limited, a number of merchant ships were employed in the role of troop
carriers, tankers and cargo ships.
The need for secrecy was paramount, as the Kriegsmarine was required to carry out their part of the operation under the noses of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, which was located at Scapa Flow, just across the North Sea from southern Norway.
.P For Weserübung, the Kriegsmarine was divided into eleven task forces (Marine
Gruppe). Five of these were involved in the invasion of Denmark (see ASW Escort
Counter 4812), while the first six were assigned to Norway as follows:
.P Marine Gruppe I (MG1) - the destroyers Wilhelm Heidkamp, Georg Thiele, Diether
von Roeder, Hans Lüdemann, Hermann Künne, Anton Schmitt, Wolfgang Zenker, Bernd
von Arnim, Erich Giese and Erich Koellner; two tankers and three transports.
Destination: Narvik.
.P Marine Gruppe II (MG2) - the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper; four destroyers:
Paul Jacobi, Theodor Riedel, Bruno Heinemann, Friedrich Eckholdt; two tankers and
three transports. Destination: Trondheim. The battlecruisers Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau were assigned to cover MG1 and 2.
.P Marine Gruppe III (MG3) - the light cruisers Köln and Königsberg; the gunnery
training ship Bremse, the depot ship Carl Peters, two torpedo-boats, six S-boats,
two auxiliaries, one tanker and three transports. Rio de Janeiro was one of the
transports assigned to MG3. Destination: Bergen.
.P Marine Gruppe IV (MG4) - the light cruiser Karlsruhe, depot ship Tsingtao,
three torpedo-boats, seven S-boats, one tanker and four transports. Destination:
Kristiansand and Arendal.
.P Marine Gruppe V (MG5) - the heavy cruiser Blücher, the pocket-battleship
Lützow, the light cruiser Emden, three torpedo-boats, two auxiliaries, eight
minesweepers, two tankers and five transports. Destination: Oslo.
.P Marine Gruppe VI (MG6) - four minesweepers and four transports. Destination:
Egersund and Stavanger.
.P The Kriegsmarine did not have specialist, purpose-built landing craft
available for this operation. However, this was not a major problem as German
troops were not required to storm heavily defended beaches. Instead, the first
wave of invasion troops were transferred from the transporting cruisers and
destroyers to smaller craft: torpedo boats, trawlers, auxiliaries etc and then
taken to the target areas.
.P The attack was scheduled to begin on the morning of the 9th April 1940, and as
the various Marine Gruppen had different distances to travel, they began their
journeys to Norway at different times and dates; the first being the destroyers
of MG1, which set out at 2300hrs on the 6th April. The much slower moving
transports and tankers that carried the follow up troops and their equipment were
ordered to sail independently due to their slow speed, and those bound for the
northern invasion sites had begun their journey many days before.
.P The sea journey must have been a nightmare for many of the troops involved -
especially those that were heading for Narvik and Trondheim. Initially, clear
weather had helped British aircraft locate the ships of MG1 and 2, although their
subsequent attacks failed to record any hits against the Kriegsmarine units.
Later, the weather turned, and while this ensured the ships were now invisible to
further prying by the British, the German warships were thrown all over the place
in violent, unforgiving seas. Many sailors and troops were lost overboard en
route to Norway.
.P The first ships to engage the Royal Navy prior to the landings were those of
MG2. On the morning of the 8th April the destroyer HMS Glowworm stumbled across
MG2 while sailing to rendezvous with the battlecruiser Renown, and, despite the
gallant fight she put up, Glowworm was soon dispatched to the bottom of the sea
(see Admiral Hipper).
.P The next encounter with the enemy took place further south and involved
the Rio de Janeiro and the Polish submarine, Orzel. Orzel, commanded by Captain J
Grudzinski, was patrolling off Lillesand that same morning when suddenly an
unidentified merchant ship came into the view of his periscope. He had spotted
the Rio de Janeiro, loaded with troops, vehicles, horses, guns and other supplies
to reinforce the initial German invaders once a bridgehead was established at
Bergen. After challenging the German ship to identify herself, and upon receiving
no satisfactory response, the Polish commander ordered a torpedo to be fired at
the merchant ship. A second torpedo was fired soon after, and Rio de Janeiro
quickly capzised and sank at around 1215hrs. It is believed around 180 men died;
mostly German soldiers.
.P Further east at around the same time, the Royal Navy submarine HMS Trident
found and sank another German merchant ship. This time it was the tanker,
Stedingen, which was loaded with aviation fuel and heading for Stavanger to
supply Luftwaffe units once Sola airfield had been taken by paratroop attack.
.P While, further losses of both merchant ships and Kriegsmarine vessels would
follow, both during and after the initial invasion, the sinking of Rio de Janeiro
and Stedingen were the only real reverses suffered by the invasion forces prior
to the loss of the Blücher, which was sunk in the early morning of the 9th while
leading MG5 toward the capital, Oslo (see Blücher). Due to a variety of
reasons: poor weather, poor decision making and good old fashioned bad luck,
surface units of the Royal Navy were unable to intercept the vulnerable Marine
Gruppen heading for Bergen, Trondheim and in particular, Narvik.
.P As a result of the British failure to locate the German task forces, the six
Marine Gruppen were in all position, ready to attack their targets on the 9th
April 1940; Wesertag.
.P The operation against Norway was ultimately successful, the attackers being
helped by the Norwegians failing to act on warnings received from a number of
sources about the coming invasion. As a result of this failure, at the time of
the attack, the army was not mobilised, many coastal gun batteries were not
manned, no minefields had been laid, and there was a complete lack of direction
from the High Command of the army or the navy to the units that would initially
face the invader.
.P The resistance put up by the Norwegians was mixed and the Germans were able to
take some objectives without a shot being fired, while in other places, a gallant
defence was mounted. For a brief look at events at each main invasion area please
see:
.B Narvik (ASW Escort Counter 4811).
.B Trondheim (see Admiral Hipper).
.B Bergen (see Königsberg).
.B Kristiansand and Arendal (see Karlsruhe).
.B Oslo (see Blücher).
University of Science Music and Culture (USMC) class of 71 and 72 ~ Extraneous (AKA Mziln)
