Best Inter war Norwegian Navy
- Thread starter tigercat
- Start date
ANYTHING but what they had OTL-funds were so short, they still had Coast Defense ship's from 1898, and the first new ships since about 1920, the Sleipner's with triple digit tonnage, were just then being commissioned. Submarines and a SAG of a few cruisers, along with a relevant air arm would do wonders.
Driftless
Donor
Another HNoMS Olav Tryggvason or two would be a good option. Versatile ships, whose primary mission is mine-laying, but they could play different roles as well. (the defensive focus would be in keeping with Norway's neutrality stance).
Instead of the historic swap of dried codfish for Italian Caproni Ca.310 bombers, which proved useless; make the swap for equivalent value of Italian MAS boats and torpedos. Those craft could have done serious damage to the Kriegsmarine in the narrow fjords and rocky island bays of Norway in 1940.
Bring forward the completion of the HMoMS Alesund class of destroyers (improved and enlarged Sleipners)
Not strictly navy, but some coastal patrol planes with endurance and good performance in bad weather, to keep watch over the lengthy coastline would have helped. ( the Norwegians historically had Nortrup A-17/Douglas 8A-5NS single-engined light bombers and Northrup N-3PB single-engined floatplanes on order in 1940. They also had a handful of Heinkel He-115 twin-engined floatplanes
Instead of the historic swap of dried codfish for Italian Caproni Ca.310 bombers, which proved useless; make the swap for equivalent value of Italian MAS boats and torpedos. Those craft could have done serious damage to the Kriegsmarine in the narrow fjords and rocky island bays of Norway in 1940.
Bring forward the completion of the HMoMS Alesund class of destroyers (improved and enlarged Sleipners)
Not strictly navy, but some coastal patrol planes with endurance and good performance in bad weather, to keep watch over the lengthy coastline would have helped. ( the Norwegians historically had Nortrup A-17/Douglas 8A-5NS single-engined light bombers and Northrup N-3PB single-engined floatplanes on order in 1940. They also had a handful of Heinkel He-115 twin-engined floatplanes
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Driftless
Donor
The biggest POD would need to be political. The Norwegians, though neutral during WW1, suffered tremendous losses of merchant shipping and crews during the War. That loss help to deeply entrench a pacifist strain into the post-war mentality. To get a much better prepared interwar fleet would take a significant change of heart by both the electorate and the elected, along with some ready cash. (A Keyne's Cruiser's type ship-building program as a grand-scale public works measure?)
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Mines and MTB's!
The mines are laid to force enemy ships close to land where the small and cheap MTB's can swamp them with numbers (preferably in the hours of darkness. A few more subs would help.
To really do a Norway wank add a couple of squadrons of old biplane torpedo bombers and base then far enough north to escape surprise air attack.
The mines are laid to force enemy ships close to land where the small and cheap MTB's can swamp them with numbers (preferably in the hours of darkness. A few more subs would help.
To really do a Norway wank add a couple of squadrons of old biplane torpedo bombers and base then far enough north to escape surprise air attack.
Buy 5 RN 1st generation Dreadnoughts for scrap prices to replace the older coast defence ships. Remove the wing turrets for coastal forts. Add a battery of 6” and 4” guns in the old wing turret place. Fit mine rails on aft deck. Keep the 5th ship for spares. Each ship is superior to anything the Swedish or Germans can muster.
SwampTiger
Banned
Coast Defense ships are too weak and too man power intensive for the Norwegians. A slew of small destroyers/torpedo boats will do better. A flotilla of submarines, and a many MTB's. Hire German naval designers after WW1 for seaplanes, subs and light craft. Build these at home to increase/support local shipbuilding and build a small aircraft industry.
Yep a true Littoral Navy backed by modernised forts (guns/mines/torpedos)
Convert the older 3 Draug class DDs to Destroyer Minelayers
Build the newer 6 Sleipner class DDs as Destroyer Minelayers
All of the older vessels (Gors, Glomans etc) kept as Minelayers
And a fuck ton of MTBs
They did operate 6 HE 115s - capable of recce and dropping fish - have far more of them earlier ITTL
Battleships with big guns give the locals more confidence than some MTB. In holding ports, batteries defending minefields will be more reliable than MTB. Submarines add that level of doubt for an attacker but are expensive. MTB are what you can acquire in a war warning period rather than a long term capability. Battleships need not be fully manned and as a training tool and port guard ship can provide a depth of reservists to build on.
Not if they're 30 year old relics rusting away in port because you can't man them and can't afford to keep them maintained.
Something like Sweden's Sverige-class coastal defense ship? A pair of those would be a good obstacle although Norway's geography and weaker economic position makes minelaying DDs or MTBs a better option
The Norwegian navy was a small organisation in terms of budget and manpower - the 2 Coastal defense ships only had a crew of 270 and those crew are far better used spread about
They had 17 odd MTBs all locally built afaik - and having a larger fleet of these means that they can be in far more places and be a threat to any invading force - something the 2 Coastal ships were not.
Land their guns - keeping the larger guns and torpedo tubes to create new coastal forts and keeping the 3" guns for mounting on STUFT vessels turning them into gun boats / patrol boats - and use the Hulks as depot ships / classrooms etc
But far more importantly is to have a robust and unambiguous ROE for the crews manning the ships and the forts.
The Germans got off lightly on the 9th April 1940 - had more or all of the Norwegian defenses opened fire first and asked questions later then much of the first wave of ships that forced their way into various ports would have gone the way of Blucher and with the ability to rapidly deploy multiple mine fields - Norway could have defended its 'Neutrality'.
They kept their real life coastal battleships in good condition and they were even older.
A lot smaller too, with far less crew. Norway's coastal battleships achieved precisely nothing in 1940.