Tordenskjold-class coastal defence ship

The Tordenskjold class was a pair of coastal defence ships, Tordenskjold and Harald Haarfagre, ordered by Norway in the general rearmament before the events of 1905, when Norway left its union with Sweden. They were built by Armstrong, Mitchell and Company, the predecessor of Armstrong Whitworth, between 1897 and 1898, designed as typical pre-dreadnought battleships on a scale suited to the fjords, with two 21 cm guns fore and aft, six 12 cm and six 7.6 cm guns, and 7 inch Harvey armour on the belt and 8 inch on the turrets. They displaced 3,858 tons and were the backbone of the Royal Norwegian Navy, with the Eidsvold class, until judged unfit for war in the mid-1930s, then used for training and as German flak batteries.