HSwMS Wasa

Between 1880 and 1905 the Swedish Navy launched 12 coastal defence ships to counter the Imperial Russian Navy. The was a development of retaining the same main armament but with the secondary armament mounted in turrets to improve protection and angles of fire. Wasa was the second of the class to be laid down. Originally designated armoured boats () in Swedish, the vessels were reclassified as armoured ships () in the 1920s. Wasa had an overall length of and measured at the waterline, a beam of and a maximum draught of . Normal displacement was although, in 1912, displacement was reported as . Eight Yarrow boilers fed steam to two sets of triple-expansion steam engines rated at driving two shafts, giving a design speed of . Two funnels were fitted. A full load of of coal was carried, which gave a design range of at . During sea trials, the ship achieved at . The ship had a complement of 285 officers and ratings, later expanded to 301. Armament consisted of two single Bofors guns mounted in turrets on the ship's centreline, one fore and the other aft. Each of the guns weighed and could fire a shell at a muzzle velocity of . The mounting, designated M1894, used electric training and manual elevation. Secondary armament consisted of six Bofors guns mounted singularly in turrets amidships. These guns, which had an actual calibre of and weighed , could fire a shell at a muzzle velocity of . The M1899 mounting was manually trained and elevated. The ship was also armed with eight single Bofors guns distributed around the superstructure and two submerged Elswick torpedo tubes for torpedoes. Armour included a -long armoured belt that was thick amidships. It consisted of surface-hardened Krupp armour backed by of teak. The main armament was protected by barbettes were thick and turrets having an armoured face thick and the remainder thick. The secondary armament sat on barbettes protected by nickel-steel armour, the turrets having a face thick, sides thick and a roof thick. The conning tower was protected by armour. Flat to the belt was deck armour that was thick. Two searchlights and a rangefinder were later fitted. ==Construction and career==

Wasa was ordered from Bergsund on 12 October 1898 at a cost of SEK 2,679,000. The vessel was the third to be named after the House of Vasa, the first being a ship of the line launched in 1628. Laid down at the Finnboda shipyard in Stockholm, Wasa was launched on 29 May 1902 and completed on 6 December. The warship was commissioned into the coastal defence fleet based at Karlskrona. The ship served during the First World War protecting the nation's trade routes and shipping fleet due to Sweden's neutrality in the war. In 1924, the vessel was withdrawn from front-line service, a noteworthy short life compared to the remainder of the class. On 15 March 1940, Wasa was taken out of service. The ship's armour was removed and the vessel was reconfigured to act as a double to the newer to confuse enemy reconnaissance aircraft. Some of the material removed was used in the construction of the cruisers and . The ship found a new role as a training vessel and, in 1952, joined the Berga Naval School to train sailors in damage control. On 9 November 1960, Wasa was sold to Marinverkstaderna to be broken up at Karlskrona. ==References==