HDMS Gorm

Dansk marine – Ironclad (1871-1912)

The Danish ironclad Gorm (“Gorm the old”) was a monitor ironclad (panserskib) built for the Royal Danish Navy, and follow-up of HDMS Lindormen. She was built in Copenhagen in 1867-1870, named after the first historically recognized King of Denmark. She was active in annual squadrons until 1898, was modernized in 1903 and until 1912 was used as Copenhagen harbour defence ship, with a total of 41 years of service when scrapped in Stettin, a record for the Danish Navy.

Gorm in 1883

Design of the class

Gorm was a Danish ironclad like her predecessors Rolf Krake and Lindormen. She was classified as an armoured battery (panserbatteri) albeit the modern term is panserskib. HDMS Rolf Krake initially shown excellent service in the Second Schleswig War against Prussia, which was not able to break the blockade, so the Danish Naval staff Navy wanted another of the same type, but slightly larger and more powerful. Experience was also gained with Lindormen. Gorm had indeed the most powerful Danish ship to date, artillery wise. She also became the first major Danish warship with sails as designed. Her machinery came from an British company, giving Gorm superior speed to Lindormen, alas her range dwindled down.

Her name was never reused in the Danish navy. For context, it was chosen at a time of nationalism, when names came from Norse mythology and early Danish history, and so referring to “Gorm the Old”. Also called “Gorm the Languid” (Gorm den Dvaske) he was ruler of Denmark from c.936 to c.958 of later when passing out. He ruled from Jelling, erecting the oldest of these for his wife Thyra. Gorm was the father of three famous sons, Toke, Knut and Harald, later King Harald Bluetooth. Knut (Canute) was later killed in an attempt to capture Dublin in Ireland.

Hull and general design

HDMS Gorm measured 71.11 meters (233 ft 4 in) long overall, with 12.19 meters (40 ft) in beam, so a ratio of roughly 1/7. Mean draft was 4.37 meters (14 ft 4 in) for a displacement of 2,313 metric tons (2,276 long tons) “standard”. Her complement amounted to 150 officers and ratings.
As for her layout, it was still reminiscent of 1860 Union monitors, hence her typology. Her single twin turret, coles-like, needle-mounted, was located forward about 1/3 hull length, with the main, low superstructure behind, going almost all the way to the rounded stern. Four secondary guns were located on deck aft and four QF AT guns on the main superstructure. There were two masts and a single tall funnel. The prow was designed with a rounded arm-like end to go through ice. The ship also had five boats, two on davits close to the structure, three aft on external davits. The steering house was located aft, along with bridge’s wings. The sailing rig was reduced to a brick type. It was never shown on photos.

Powerplant

Gorm was powered by two shaft 4-bladed propellers, driven by two trunk steam engines from John Penn and Sons. They were fed by four boilers (presumably) for a rating of 1,600 indicated horsepower (1,200 kW) and designed speed of 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph). They carried a maximum of 113 metric tons (111 long tons; 125 short tons) of coal, but her range was unknown, perhaps around c1000 nm at slow speed.

Protection

HDMS Gorm had a complete wrought iron waterline armored belt 178 millimeters (7 in) in thickness. The gun turret itself had vertical walls protected by 203-millimeter (8 in) or armor plating. The other guns were protected by light shields. Underwater compartmentation was limited.

Armament

-In 1871 she was initially armed with two Armstrong 254 mm (10 in) rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns mounted in a single turret.
-In 1875 she received either two 76 mm (3 inches) RML guns or two 84/13 M.1872 depending on sources.
-In 1878 she received two 87/21 RK L/24 C.80 (3.4 in) German rifled breech-loading guns plus six 37mm/17 M.1877.
-In 1889 she received four additional 87/21 RK L/24 C.80 mm guns while her two 84mm/13 were removed.
-In 1891 she received two quick-firing (QF) 57 mm/40 C85 (2.2 in) Hotchkiss guns but four 87mm/21 guns were removed.
-In 1903 her 254 mm guns and all 37mm/17 guns were removed and replaced by two German QF 150 mm (5.9 in) SK L/35 C.88 guns.

Career of HDMS Gorm

Gorm was named for Gorm the Old, first historically recognized King of Denmark, was laid down by the Naval Dockyard in Copenhagen on 18 November 1867, launched on 17 May 1870 and completed on 23 June. Gorm had an active career and often participated in the annual squadrons, the last time in 1898. In 1903, Gorm received two guns from the discarded cruiser frigate Fyen, but did not operate with them. In 1909, Gorm was reclassified as a defense ship, which meant that she was intended exclusively for the defense of Copenhagen. After 41 years enlisted, a record for ironclads, Gorm was sold on 12 June 1912 and towed to Germany at Stettin for scrapping. Unfortunately, there are no more available logs on her career.

Read More/Src

Links

sbib.dk/ ships list 1871.pdf
on navypedia.org
on navalhistory.dk/
on en.wikipedia.org/
battleships-cruisers.co.uk/
da.wikipedia.org/

Model Kits

None, but the sketchfab model below can be downloaded for 3d printing.

3D