HNoMS Æger (1936)
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Æger at sea, sometime before the Second World War
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| History | |
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 Norway
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| Name: | Æger |
| Namesake: | Ægir – the Jötunn king of the sea in Norse mythology |
| Builder: | The Royal Norwegian Navy's shipyard at Karljohansvern, Horten |
| Yard number: | 122 |
| Launched: | 25 August 1936 |
| Commissioned: | 1936 |
| Fate: | Bombed and beached 9 April 1940 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Sleipner-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 735 tons |
| Length: | 74.30 m (243.77 ft) |
| Beam: | 7.75 m (25.43 ft) |
| Draft: | 4.15 m (13.62 ft) |
| Propulsion: | Two De Laval geared turbines with two shafts and 12,500 hp |
| Speed: | 32 knots (59.26 km/h) |
| Range: | 3,500 nautical miles (6,482.00 km) at 15 knots (27.78 km/h) |
| Complement: | 75 men |
| Armament: |
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| Service record | |
| Commanders: |
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| Operations: | Opposing the German invasion of Norway |
| Victories: |
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HNoMS Æger was a Sleipner-class destroyer launched at Karljohansvern naval shipyard in Horten in 1936. The Sleipner class was part of a Norwegian rearmament scheme started as war became ever more likely in the 1930s. When the Germans invaded Norway on 9 April 1940, Æger intercepted and sank the clandestine German supply ship Roda. She was shortly afterwards attacked and sunk by German bombers, bringing down two of the attacking aircraft with her anti-aircraft armament before being taken out of action by a heavy bomb.
Æger was built at Karljohansvern naval shipyard with yard number 122. She was launched on 25 August 1936.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, Æger formed part of the Norwegian 2nd Naval District's 2nd Destroyer Division, covering an area roughly the same as the Vestlandet and Trøndelag regions.
Æger was amongst the first Royal Norwegian Navy units to encounter the German invasion forces of Operation Weserübung when in the early morning of 9 April 1940 she intercepted the German cargo ship Roda off the port city of Stavanger.
At around 01:00 on 9 April Norwegian customs officers came on board Æger while she was at anchor in Stavanger and reported their suspicion that the 6,780-ton cargo ship Roda anchored near Ullsnes was probably carrying a different cargo than the 7,000 tons of coke stated in her cargo documents. The German vessel was riding far too high in the water to carry such a cargo. Adding still more suspicion was the fact that the Germans claimed they were bringing the coke to the Norwegian company Sigval Bergesen, a company the customs officers knew had never before taken deliveries of coke. Although the situation was unclear the Norwegian destroyer's commander, Captain Niels Larsen Bruun, decided to take Roda as a prize.
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Wikipedia