Class: Norrköping torpedo boat
Launched: 1974 as Torpedo Boat, converted into Missile Boat in 1982
At: Karlskronavarvet, Karlskrona, Sweden
Commissioned: 1975
Decommissioned: 1998
Length: 41.3 meters at waterline
Beam: 7.1 meters
Draft: 2.4 meters
Displacement: 240 tons
Armament: (original) Tubes: 6 – 53 cm torpedoes. Guns: 1 dual purpose 57 mm.
(After conversion) Tubes/missiles/mines: 2 torpedo tubes and 8 surface-to-surface missile launchers or 6 torpedo tubes or 20 mines.
Machinery: 3 Rolls-Royce Marine Proteus gas-turbines = 3 x 4,500 hp.
Speed: 40 knots
Complement: 14 officers, 16 ratings
Address:
The National Maritime Museums of Sweden/The Naval Museum
Stumholmen
Box 48
SE-371 21 Karlskrona
Sweden
(46) 455 35 93 00
Fax: (46) 455 35 93 49
http://www.marinmuseum.se
Latitude: 56.161951225401076, Longitude: 15.599588155746472
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The Västervik was one of the twelve Norrköping class torpedo boats. For the greater part of her active service she was based at Karlskrona. Built from 1973-1976 the boats were named after Swedish towns.
Operational duties
These boats were designed to provide the spearhead of Sweden’s naval defense capability and even in peacetime were kept in a high state of preparedness.
The Russians are coming
In October 1981 the Soviet submarine U-137 ran aground in the Gåsefjärden fairway in the Karlskrona archipelago. The Västervik was one of the patrol vessels assigned to warn off Soviet warships from entering Swedish territorial waters and it was on this warship that the Captain of the U-137 was cross-examined by Swedish authorities and naval personnel.
Converted into a Fast Attack Boat
In the beginning of the 1980’s Sweden adjusted her defense needs to the momentous changes in the international situation. Consequently, the Norrköping class vessels were all converted into Fast Attack Boats (Missile) with a main armament of surface-to-surface missiles that had a far greater speed and range than the torpedo.
A warship frozen in time
The Västervik was decommissioned in 1998. In 2000 she was taken over by the Naval Museum. She was still in the same condition as when the crew left her for the last time.
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