HNoMS Brage (1878)

Vale-class gunboat
History
Norway
Name:	Brage
Namesake:	Norse skaldic god Bragi
Builder:	The Royal Norwegian Navy's shipyard at Horten
Launched:	1 November 1878
Commissioned:	1878
Captured:	by the Germans on 9 April 1940
Germany
Acquired:	9 April 1940
Fate:	Handed back to Norway after VE Day
Service record
Operations:	Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
Norway
Name:	Brage
Acquired:	May 1945
Decommissioned:	1945
Fate:	Scrapped in 1945
General characteristics as built
Class and type:	Vale-class Rendel gunboat
Displacement:	260 tons standard
Length:	28 m (91.86 ft)
Propulsion:	220 hp steam engine
Speed:	8.5 knots (15.74 km/h)
Complement:	41 men
Armament:	1 × 21 cm (10.5 inch) RML gun 1 × 1pdr (cm / inch) QF gun 1 × 1pdr (cm / inch) revolving gun
General characteristics after rebuild
Displacement:	260 tons standard
Length:	28 m (91.86 ft)
Propulsion:	220 hp steam engine
Speed:	8.5 knots (15.74 km/h)
Complement:	31 men
Armament:	1 × 12 cm (4.72 inch) gun 3 × 37 mm (1.46 inch) guns 50 mines

HNoMS Brage was a Vale-class Rendel gunboat built for the Royal Norwegian Navy at Horten Naval Yard in 1874, with build number 58. She was one of a class of five gunboats - the other ships in the class were Vale, Nor, Uller and Vidar.

Brage was, in addition to the heavy, muzzle-loading main gun, armed with a small 'Quick Fire' gun and an early automatic gun, similar to the Gatling gun.

Later Brage, like her sister ships, was rebuilt as a minelayer, and she served in this role when the Germans invaded in 1940. She was captured by German forces after the surrender of Norwegian forces in Southern Norway, and returned to Norway after the war.

Footnotes

External links

• Naval history via Flix: Vale, retrieved 27 Feb 2006