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The A-class submarines were a class of three vessels of German design built by the Krupp Germania naval shipyard in Kiel, Germany from 1913 to 1914 and deployed by the Royal Norwegian Navy.
 HNoMS A-4
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | Krupp Germania Kiel, Germany |
| Operators |  Royal Norwegian Navy |
| Preceded by | HNoMS Kobben (1909) |
| Succeeded by | B class |
| In service | – 16 April 1940 |
| In commission | 2 March 1914 |
| Planned | 4 |
| Building | 4 |
| Completed | 4 |
| Lost | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Submarine |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 46.7 m (153 ft 3 in) |
| Beam | 4.78 m (15 ft 8 in) |
| Draught | 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) |
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | |
| Range |
|
| Test depth | 50 m (164 ft) |
| Boats & landing craft carried | 1 dingi |
| Complement | 16 (? officers and ? ratings) |
| Armament |
|
The Norwegian government purchased four submarines that were almost completed in 1913 and received three of these before World War I. The fourth, A-5, was seized by German authorities at the outbreak of war and commissioned as SM UA. It was used for coastal protection and from 1916 as a training vessel in the Baltic Sea.[1]
Fates
editAll three A-class submarines were lost in the first week following the German invasion of Norway, one in combat and the other two through scuttling.
- A-2 (2 March 1914 – 9 April 1940) attacked and severely damaged by the two German R boat minesweepers R-22 and R-23 off the Vallø peninsula near Tønsberg in the Oslofjord on 9 April 1940. Her crew was captured and she drifted ashore at Vallø, a total wreck.
- A-3 (1914 – 16 April 1940) scuttled by own crew in Verkbukta at Tønsberg on 16 April 1940
- A-4 (1914 – 16 April 1940) scuttled by own crew in Verkbukta at Tønsberg on 16 April 1940
Footnotes
edit- ^ E.Gröner, Deutsche Kriegsschiffe, vol. III, p. 48
Literature
edit- Abelsen, Frank (1986). Norwegian naval ships 1939–1945 (in Norwegian and English). Oslo: Sem & Stenersen AS. ISBN 82-7046-050-8.
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