A visit to one of the World's oldest Naval Museums

I've recently been to the Swedish equivalent and I think I may have earlier mentioned somewhere in the comment section of this blog, or in someone else's blog, that I live close to the Norwegian Naval Museum, and that I might post a report from it as there are several fellow wargame bloggers and readers who are interested in Naval history and wargaming. I decided to do it during summer time as they also have some outdoor exhibitions. Recently the weather has been sunny and warm here so I decided to take the 30 minutes ferry-trip from Moss (where I live) to Horten where the Norwegian Naval Museum is located on the old main Naval Base, Karljohansvern. It's not the main Naval base anymore as it's moved to Bergen, but the Navy still have some few services left there. -amongst them the Naval Museum, which is one of the oldest Naval museums in the World, and the oldest opened to the public (1853).

It was lovely weather to spend on deck with a cup of coffee. Horten is just 30 minutes away (on the other side of the Oslofjord):

The Norwegian Naval Museum at Karljohansvern is located in the building to the right. All ships are open to the public. Even if the Museum has preserved ships, they have a lot of models. A lot (!) The Ship to the left is a decommissioned Oslo Class Frigate:

Outside the museum there is a selection of ship-guns and another ship; a Kobben Class Submarine:

A torpedo launcher and a Storm Class Fast attack boat:

This is a model of how the Main Naval base looked like when established. Many of the buildings are unfortunately demolished now, but the naval museum can be seen as the 2 long red buildings on the right. Too bad the 'Citadelle' on the hill in the center was demolished as well:

Now it's only a model left of it:

Inside the museum parts of the exhibition are really old:

Some of their models are enormous: 

Norway has a very long coast and have been a maritime nation ever since. This reflects our navy which until the end of the cold war actually has been quite large. During the 16th and 17th century Norway did not only have larger sail ships, but had also developed several smaller ships, often only armed with a cannon or two to operate inshore. These were very manoeuvrable and probably the first gunboats:

Peter Wessel Tordenskjold was a Norwegian officer in the Danish/Norwegian fleet, and was a true naval tactician. Due to his daring and successfull operations and victories against the Swedish navy during the Great Northern War he was promoted to Vice Admiral. Here are a couple of his commissioned ships:

The statue of Tordenskjold to the left, overlooking his old ships:

A periodic Regal-ship with an early form of 'camouflage' making it difficult to specify it's course due to colors and perspective:

During the Napoleonic wars Denmark/Norway was on the French side, which resulted in several clashes with The Royal Navy. This is a model of the Battle of Lyngør in 1812, which was won by the British:

On the museum there is also an armory showing a lot of old and modern weapons. Here are some early models of machineguns. The one to the right was used in Norway's first Monitor:

The Norwegian Navy's first monitor "Skorpionen" from 1866. Totally 4 monitors entered Norwegian service:

Off course there must be a Viking ship on a Norwegian Naval Museum. These warships were very innovative for their time, being very seaworthy and able to landings operations in shallow waters at the same time. This big model is of the 'Gokstad' ship from 890. It was found only 45km away from the museum. The ship has been copied several times, and I think this is the ship Emhar used for a prototype for their model:

A selection of small arms used by the Navy:

A section of the museum are about the Royal family and the ships in their service:

During WW2 the Norwegian Navy went 'overseas' and joined the allied service. Norway did not only participating with it's huge merchant navy, but also in very offensive roles with Norwegians serving on allied ships and operating 12 Destroyers, 7 Corvettes, 30 MTBs, 9  motorlaunchers, 4 submarines, 4 submarine hunters, 38 minesweepers, 12 patrol vessels and 2 depot ships on their own in allied service. Several Flower Class Corvettes were operated by Norwegians in the Atlantic:

Several Norwegian crew members lost their life during WW2, and a room in the museum are dedicated to them:

Respect!

From the Submarine section:

After WW2 the Norwegian Navy operated 3 ex-German VIIC submarines until 1964:

Before WW2, the Navy also had their own Air Force.

The Norwegian Fleet Arm also had their base at Karljohansvern:

The Norwegian Fleet Arm was undergoing modernization towards the outbreak of WW2, but the Heinkel entered service  too late to make any difference. They were seized by the Germans and entered German service instead. Earlier this summer I saw a similar model on the Swedish Naval Museum:

After WW2, 2 Flower Class Corvettes were still in Norwegian service. This is it's post war scheme: 

Norway operated several Fast attack boats and MTBs during WW2, and continued to do so after the war as the Norwegian coast was ideal for such small crafts to operate against larger ships. After WW2 there were several British ships in service, but also several ex-German S-Boots and a flotilla of ex-American Elco PT-Boats:

Norway soon designet a own Class called Tjeld (after the bird). The design was so successful that USA bought them for service in Vietnam. Some even claims that some of these ships were operated by Norwegians. It's a Norwegian design, so a similar model is actually exhibited on the National Museum where I work:

This is a model of a Storm Class:

-Which also is the same Class of ship exhibited outside. The public can go aboard it:

Norway was also operating one of the World's first torpedo boats built in UK in 1873. KNM "RAP" ("Fast") was the fastest ship of it's time with 16,5 knots:

Earlier the Naval Museum used to exhibit THE KNM "RAP" outside the museum, but it was later removed due to it's bad condition being permanent displayed outside. I know they have later renovated and conserved it, but it's not exhibited anymore (yet). -So this is an exclusive thing for the readers of this blog; a revisit of the preserved original "Rap", one of the first ever modern Torpedo Boats. I was given an exclusive tour to one of their magazines to have a look at it:

In this magazine, not open to the public, there were also 2 newly conserved German WW2 mini-submarines, which also used to be exhibited on the outside before. The German occupation forces operated several mini-submarine stations on Norway:

Back inside the public exhibition again I went into the Coast Guard section:

There they have a model of the latest ship in the Coast Guard, Jan-Mayen Class, which only one or two has recently entered service. More of them are under way:

In the Coast Guard section there were also a model of KV "Nornen", on which my oldest son served for 2 years:

There is also a small exhibition of the more modern Norwegian Naval Special Operation Forces. They also operates inland, and have seen active service in Afghanistan and in the Bay of Aden in anti-pirate operations:

When I visit museums I usually visits (and takes a photo of) their museum-shop. This one has no models, kits, soldiers or what so ever. Not even Cobi blocks, which seems to be popular at other (military-) museums these days. Earlier they used to have a lot of military surplus from the Navy, but now it was mostly books, cups, stuffed animals of 'mascots' and some few toys. Not very interesting from a modeller's perspective. 

One other thing I usually visits on museums are their cafeterias. No exception this time:

Another nice thing about going to museums are doing research for own modelling projects. I found this, showing an unusual view of a camouflage pattern:

I'll post more information about the project as a blogpost when I finally get around to it, and have something to post. This visit also inspired me to do some maritime modelling or wargaming. The latter would have to be easy and free like all the other wargames I've been played and reviewed in this blog. Time will show. Please follow for updates.

I hoped you stayed until the end of this blogpost and enjoyed this very brief virtual tour at the Norwegian Naval Museum in Horten. The staff there are really friendly and helpful, and I do really recommend you to visit it if you're in the area.

NEW! Kato Narrow Gauge UNITRACK

Last november during the Faszination Modellbau in Friedrichshafen I saw the new Kato Narrow Gauge in 9mm gauge for 009 and H0e announced the first time at the Kato-stand. The track was so new at the time that they just had some few pieces of track as samples and  photos in the catalog to show, and none for sale at the time. 

I've noticed that these Narrow Gauge tracks slowly are starting to get available at hobby retailers these days. None of them in Norway off course. But while I was on a 4 day motorcycle trip in Sweden recently I surprisingly found one such set in Southern Sweden's largest Hobby shop; Habo Hobby. It was reasonably priced too at only £ 107/ $ 142. Buying it was a no-brainer to me. So here is a kind of review of the Kato Narrow Gauge UNITRACK, while it's still kind of 'new', if some of my readers are curious about 9mm narrow gauge.

The box of the oval track set it self is labelled OO-9/HOn and suggesting used for both 1:76 and 1:87 scale on 9mm gauge, 009 and H0e/H0n30 receptively:

The backside of the box also suggests how to expand your oval, and how to connect it to Peco tracks with the 4 connector track in the box:

The track it self is the very same as the existing Kato pre-ballasted N gauge UNITRACK and share the same code 80 and track geometry as lengths and radius. They also have the same track connectors, so they're interchangeable. The only difference between the Kato UNITRACK N-gauge and the new 009/H0e narrow gauge track is the wider spacing and the size of sleepers. This makes the new narrow gauge tracks visually more appealing for both 009 (1:76) and H0e (1:87):

So, Whats in the box?
First it contains instructions in Japanese, English and German. The box contains enough tracks to make an oval of 515mm x 391mm or 20.28 x 15.39 Inch to fit a A2 sized baseboard. One of the track is a connector-track to connect to the included Kato power pack (a AC to DC adaptor is also included). There are also 4 pieces of adaptor tracks to connect the Kato narrow gauge UNITRACK to Peco flexi track (without pre-ballasting). In the box you'll also find a re-railer as it might get handy for these smaller gauges. It also contains a 'gauge'; I think the track gauge will work, but suspect the loading gauge is N-scale.

These are one of the 4 adaptor tracks I've connected to a piece of Peco 009 Flexitrack.

I assembled my set for some test-running and I was up and running in less than 2 minutes. The track-oval was very sturdy and could be lifted off the table:

Ok, that was the shorter locomotive and rolling stock. Let's try some longer, with a longer wheel-base:

The longer wheelbase on the rollingstock run fine with no derailments. How about running a railbus with a 'long wheel-base'?

It still runs well on these tracks. So lets try a larger diesel:

Since this is a blog on military modelling, lets finish these tests with a German Heeresfeldbahn HF-110C with tender and wagons with long wheel-base:

What about the future? There are only curved track in one radius and straights in this narrow gauge line yet. Let's hope the future will bring a wider selection of narrow gauge track from Kato including different radius and turnouts.

Kato has also launched a selection 'Mini Dioramas' as an easy to assemble module kits for their N- scale UNITRACK to introduce model railways for kids and people who are not into model railways in the first place. Since sharing the same track geometry, I guess these Mini Modules can be combined and used with this new Narrow Gauge track from Kato too:

This is a great set for you who wants a quick set up, making a new permanent layout, connect it to an existing layout or just as a temporary quick set up. In the latter cases the box works as a storage when not in use. This will be an excellent start for 'Pizza layouts'. Kato is known for reliable tracks which are reasonably priced. Get it while you can. I hope that this new narrow oval track set from Kato is just the beginning of a new product range with wider selection. I'm vaguely start to plan what to use my set for.

Are you buying one?

A 'Blitz excursion' to Sweden - Part 4: Big and Small Narrow Gauge

Due to few models on the blog yesterday, I thought I should compensate for it today, as my route homewards coincidentally just passed by Southern Sweden's largest Hobby shop; Habo Hobby:

They're not only into model railways in all kinds of different scales and gauges, but also into everything technical hobbies in general.

They are even into Tabletop gaming as they are a GW retailer:

I guess they must be into mailorders as Habo is not a very large place. With their broad offers in different hobbies, this was a shop right up my alley. Their prices are reasonable too. So did I find anything interesting enough to bring home? -Sure! Now I had to 'pay the price' for the decision to  travel light and fast; I didn't have room for much on my motorcycle. But I found items so interesting that not buying them was not an option. Place for them on my bike or not. I just had to impovise, adapt and overcome. Let's hope The Mrs. is not reading about my 'hoarding' on the blog. I found the new Kato Unitrack in H0e or 009 (9mm gauge) as a 'set' and some 'out of production' MiniTrains track in same scale and gauge. None of these can be found in Norway. Perhaps I'll do a blogpost on the Kato tracks, as actually is the same s their N-gauge Unitrack except for that they have sleepers made for H0 or 009 scale. So this was the 'small narrow gauge' in the blogpost title:

The 'big narrow gauge' (according to the title) did I find i the town where I was going to spend the night; Skara. Which is also one of the oldest towns in Sweden. Back in the days Skara had a station for 5 different railway lines in 891mm (3 Swedish feet), making it to one of Europe's largest narrow gauge stations. Another coincidence today; I'm staying at the old 'Railway hotel' by the old railway station with just a short walk to a preserved line where Skara-Lundsbrunn järnvägar are operating a heritage railway:

This preserved railway passes a private house with the 'largest garden railway' I've ever seen. It's a 600mm narrow gauge line, and the owner runs small industrial locomotives and rolling stock on it. Too bad there was not traffic today:

The weather forecast and clouds outside suggests that's it's soon about time to head back home again. Thank you to all of you that have followed me on this 4 days (virtual) excursion to Sweden.

Blog PostScript 

The weather forecast was right for once, and I was kind of 'lucky' on my final day of the excursion, as I were driving just a head of the rain. Well, until I came to the Norwegian/Swedish border that was. Then the rain caught up on me, but I didn't mind as it was only 45 minutes left before I was home (after almost 1400km)

On my final day I passed this interesting place where a Standard Gauge branch line to Strömstad is running parallel to the 600mm heritage railway of Munkedal. 

Thanks for following this virtual excursion. 

A 'Blitz excursion to Sweden' - Part 3: The Swedish Naval Museum

Today's destination is located on the Swedish south east cost in the fortified town of Karlskrona, where the Swedish Naval Museum is located. This is a place I've been wanting to visit for a long time, so my expectations were pretty high:

They have 3 ships on display outside:

This was the Swedish Navy's main wharf, and the area and town is heavily fortified:

When entering the museum, the presentation is neat, modern and educational:

They show the importance of models in early ship designs and construction:

Some of those models are really large:

The number of models are mostly limited to older sailing ships though. Perhaps because Sweden's naval battles are mostly limited to this period. 

On the other hand they have a very educational approach to Naval warfare with sailing ships; like the ship guns had a very limited range of about 300 yards and were very inaccurate due to roll, pitch and heave and took long time to reload. Therefore 'melee' and boarding of enemy ships were an important tactic. These factors gives a lot of ideas for a naval wargame. I haven't tried that before. Maybe I should?

The diorama of the 'Battle of Svensksund' between Sweden and Russia in 1790 shows how chaotic such battle could be. Swedish victory:

A 1:1 scale display from a gun-deck. Mirrors made a impression how it looked with several guns:

The museum also had a 'gun simulator' where you could 'fire a volley' against Danish (!) ships to see how to aim on moving targets when your muzzle velocity and range is bad:

The hall of 'Figureheads' from those sailing ships were impressive:

A small section of 'from sail to steam':

The 'Cold War' period was mostly displayed by interactive screens and boards and had just a very few models. 

This is probably the very first model of a submarine from the 18th century. It's made by a Swede:

Sweden's first submarine from 1905 is preserved on the museum. It's based on a periodic American design:

And Neptune from 1978:

The museum didn't mention any naval fleet arm, but showed a model of the Heinkel. A similar model is actually exhibited on the Norwegian Naval Museum as Norway had a 'fleet arm'. Perhaps I should make a blogpost from there too as well?

This is an overview of the museum shop. No model kits or Cobi kits (which have gained popularity in military museums lately). Just mainstream maritime products 'your wife could have picked':

Well, except for these 3 models. But the 'cheapest' costed hundreds of £, while the other two costed over thousand (!)

-And their  Café I never had time to visit, as it closed one hour before the museum. Right after they closed the Café, the staff started to close those 3 open ships in photo no. 2 in this post. So a lot was closed before the museum actually closed. 

As initially stated my expectations were high, so I was actually a little bit disappointed by this visit. -But I learnt new things about sailing-age warfare though, and knowledgeis why we seeks museums, isn't it? If 18th and 19th Century Swedish Navy's is your thing, this is the place to go. 

I'm some 570km away from home now, and I'll better start planning my return. I've been taking reservations due to the weather throughout the whole trip as the forcast have been changing every day and hour. But I've been lucky; no rain so far. So if the weather permits, there will be 'pit stops' on the return.  Please stay tuned.

Perhaps I should visit the Norwegian Naval Museum when coming back?