HNoMS Sæl
Sæl showing her two funnels and cigar-shaped hull
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| History | |
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.svg){kind=small}  Norway
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| Name: | Sæl |
| Namesake: | Pinniped |
| Builder: | The Royal Norwegian Navy Shipyard in Horten |
| Yard number: | 85 |
| Launched: | 25 September 1901 |
| Commissioned: | 1901 |
| Out of service: | 18 April 1940 |
| Fate: | Sunk in action with three German E-boats at Ånuglo in the Hardangerfjord. |
| Service record | |
| Part of: | 4th Torpedo boat Division in the 2nd Naval District |
| Commanders: | Ensign L. Gulbrandsen (1940) |
| Operations: | Norwegian Campaign |
| Victories: | 1 E-boat damaged |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 1. class |
| Displacement: | 107 tons |
| Length: | 39.9 m (130.91 ft) |
| Beam: | 4.9 m (16.08 ft) |
| Draft: | 2.7 m (8.86 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 1,100 hp triple expansion steam engine |
| Speed: | 21 knots (38.89 km/h) |
| Range: |
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| Complement: | 20 men |
| Armament: |
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| Notes: | All the above listed information, unless otherwise noted, was acquired from |
HNoMS Sæl was the penultimate vessel of the ten 1. class torpedo boats of the Royal Norwegian Navy. She was built at the Royal Norwegian Navy Shipyard in Horten in 1901, with yard number 85. She was to see close to 40 years service with the Royal Norwegian Navy, taking part in the preparations for war in connection with the dissolution the union with Sweden in 1905, enforcing Norwegian neutrality during the First World War and opposing the German invasion of Norway in 1940. She was lost in battle with Kriegsmarine vessels at Ånuglo in the Hardangerfjord on 18 April 1940.
Sæl is the pre-1917 Reform Bokmål version of the Norwegian word sel, meaning seal.
Sæl was reasonably seaworthy in calm seas, with little engine noise and no bow water. The intent behind her design was to enable her to attack enemy shipping in both open seas and close to shore with the least possible chance of being spotted before launching torpedoes at her targets. The 37 mm gun armament was placed one on each side of the ship, making it impossible for both her QF guns to fire at one target simultaneously.
Having been launched as the penultimate of the ten 1. class torpedo boats built for the Royal Norwegian Navy, HNoMS Sæl was amongst the front-line RNoN units mobilised in connection with the tense political conditions between Norway and Sweden as the Norwegians dissolved the 91-year-old personal union between the two countries.
As the two countries appeared on the brink of war in the autumn of 1905, the Royal Norwegian Navy carried out exercises involving almost its entire force. By the time the Karlstad negotiations met with success and Sweden recognised the independence of Norway on 23 October 1905, Sæl and many of the other Norwegian ships were patrolling the Oslofjord in expectation of a Swedish naval attack against the country's capital Oslo and the central military and industrial area of Eastern Norway.
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