HNoMS Thor (1872)

Plans for Thor circa 1870
History
Norway
Name	Thor
Namesake	Norse god of thunder Thor
Builder	Horten Navy Yard
Laid down	1 January 1871
Launched	1872
Decommissioned	1918
Fate	Wrecked 7 March 1919
General characteristics
Displacement	1,975 tons
Length	62.33m
Beam	14.48m
Draught	3.81m
Propulsion	600hp reciprocating steam engines
Speed	8.0 knop
Complement	95
Armament	2 x 10.5 inch RML guns

HNoMS Thor was a monitor built for the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1871, named after the Norse god Thor. She was decommissioned in 1918, long after her heavy guns were outdated. She was considered an improvement on the Skorpionen class of monitors, with heavier armour and a wider beam.

The earlier monitor Mjølner was named after Thor's hammer.

Thor was armed with two 10.5 inch rifled muzzle-loading guns in a revolving turret. She had 7 inches of iron armour on her deck, and her turret was protected by 14 inches of iron armour.

After decommissioning, Thor was to be scrapped. On 7 March 1919, while being towed to the scrapyard, the ship was caught in a storm that broke the towing cable, stranding Thor on an island outside Verdens Ende in Vestfold, and killing two crew members. Thor later sank in shallow water. A salvage operation removed parts of the ship, but the wreck remains largely intact and now lies at a depth of 8 to 14 meters southwest of Verdens Ende.^[1]

Thor is one of only three accessible monitor vessels in the world, the others being USS Monitor, which lies at about 60 meters some 42 kilometers southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and HMVS Cerberus, in 5 metres of water in Victoria, Australia.^[1]

• Johan Oscar Smith, founder of Brunstad Christian Church served as a gunnery officer on Thor in 1898.

• Naval History via Flix: KNM Thor, access date 16 January 2006