HNoMS Eidsvold

HNoMS Eidsvold was a coastal defence ship and the lead ship of her class in the Royal Norwegian Navy, built by Armstrong Whitworth at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1899. She was named after the town of Eidsvold, where the Norwegian Constitution was drafted and signed on 17 May 1814. With her sister ship Norge she was one of the two largest vessels in the Norwegian fleet, displacing 4,233 tons with a crew of up to 270, and her main armament was two 21 centimetre guns. She carried 6 inches of Krupp cemented armour in the belt and 9 inches on her two turrets. In June 1911 she sailed to the United Kingdom for the fleet review at the coronation of King George V. She was long out of date by the Second World War. On the morning of 9 April 1940 Captain Odd Isaachsen Willoch refused a German demand to surrender in Narvik harbour, and German destroyers torpedoed her before her port guns could fire. She broke in two and sank in seconds, with 175 of her crew lost and only six rescued.