Heimdallr-class Coastal Defense Battleships
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Heimdallr as built in 1926
Following the Washington Naval Treaty, the final two Skinfaxi-class ships
Dagr and
Nótt were cancelled and reordered as the carriers
Geirdriful and
Gungnir. Their 16" rifles had already been manufactured and their reordering left the navy with 24 rifles that could not be used on capital ships, to solve this, the navy designed the Heimdallr-class. 18 of the rifles went to the Heimdallrs, with the remaining 6 being installed in concrete emplacements on the southern coast of Sakhalin.
Displacing just under the treaty limit of 10,000 tons, the Heimdallr class was armed with two 16" rifles, four 6" casemate guns, and eight 88mm guns. They were powered by an array of large locomotive diesel engines provided by Thor ASk, and they were the first large vessels of the KNF to be powered by diesel engines. Despite their small size and light displacement, they were quite well protected, with the ships having belt armor of 10" thickness.
Their wartime service was mostly limited to their original coastal defense roles, with only two of the vessels seeing action in that role, both being sunk. Late in the war, they were deployed off the Japanese Home Islands to provide fire support.
Ships in class: (laid down-launched-commissioned - fate)
Heimdallr 1924-1925-1926-????
Sigurðr 1924-1925-1926-????
Egil 1924-1925-1926-????
Heimir 1924-1925-1926-Grounded in Hæjenjäi and destroyed, 1941
Böðvarr 1925-1926-1927-????
Svipdagr 1925-1926-1927-Sunk in Korsakov harbor, 1942
Rerir 1925-1926-1927-????
Palnatoki 1925-1926-1927-????
Vidrík 1926-1927-1928-????
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"The first phase of the operation did not go as planned." - Anonymous