page_title: HNoMS Draug (1908)
section_title: Service in the United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: HNoMS Draug (1908) / Second World War / Service in the United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: The crew of the Norwegian Motor Torpedo Boat MTB 56 lined up on board the destroyer HNoMS Draug immediately before their first mission on the coast of Norway.
context_page_description: HNoMS Draug was the lead ship of the three-ship Draug class of destroyers built for the Royal Norwegian Navy in the years 1908–1913. The four-stacked destroyer was kept in service long after she was obsolete, and took part in the defence of Norway during the German invasion in 1940.
  In the early hours of 9 April 1940, Draug intercepted and captured the clandestine German transport Main. After deciding that the outdated Draug could do little to oppose the invading German forces, the ship's captain decided to sail to the United Kingdom, bringing the captured German ship with him. After being subjected to a German bombing attack, Main was sunk and Draug proceeded to the United Kingdom with the German crew as prisoners. In exile in the United Kingdom Draug served as a guard ship, convoy escort, MTB mother ship and depot ship. Decommissioned in late 1943, Draug was sold for scrapping in 1944.
context_section_description: For the rest of her war service, Draug escorted coastal convoys and provided local defence in the south of England. After arrival in the United Kingdom Draug's aft 76 mm gun was removed and replaced with a 3" anti-aircraft cannon, and two .303 Lewis anti-aircraft machine guns were installed, one on each of the on the bridge wings. A degaussing cable was placed on the hull to demagnetize the ship and counter magnetic mines.
  The first role of Draug in the United Kingdom was to serve as mother ship in Portsmouth for the newest additions to the Royal Norwegian Navy, the two motor torpedo boats MTB 5 and MTB 6, until 5 August 1940. These two boats had been ordered before the invasion of Norway, but were only handed over in May 1940, well after the German landings.
  During the critical autumn of 1940, when a German invasion of Britain seemed inevitable, the antiquated destroyer was deployed as a Guard Destroyer to Lowestoft from 6 August to 27 October 1940 (Pennant No. H.28). In this role, she relatively often used her newly installed anti-aircraft weapons during air raids. Draug was repeatedly the direct target of German bombers during this time, but escaped damage.
  Between November 1940 and early 1941, Draug was rearmed, rebuilt and modernized at the shipyard in Grimsby. Amongst the changes made, her bridge was reconstructed and the fore funnel removed, probably to reduce the weight on the deck. During her time in Grimsby she also escorted coastal convoys and patrolled the Humber estuary. While patrolling the Humber she was on one occasion attacked by a German Heinkel He 111 bomber, first by strafing, then with bombs. The bombs missed their target by some 400 metres, and only one sailor had been slightly wounded during the strafing attacks. Draug had returned fire with her anti-aircraft weaponry, although the 3" gun had jammed after the first few rounds and the anti-aircraft machine guns had failed to inflict serious damage on the attacking aircraft.
  After the initial invasion scare had passed, Draug spent most of her time up until April 1942 escorting coastal convoys off the coast of Southern England.
  In addition to her coastal duties, Draug also carried out more unconventional operations, such as towing Norwegian motor torpedo boats to and from the coast of southern Norway. This greatly increased the range of the small MTBs, thus allowing them to carry out attacks on German-controlled convoys in the occupied homeland. The first attack made by a Norwegian MTB in Norwegian waters happened on 3 October 1941, when MTB 56 was towed into position by Draug and proceeded to torpedo and sink off Kyrholmen the escorted 3,015 ton Norwegian tanker MT Borgny of Oslo, which had been requisitioned by the Germans and was carrying 3,500 tons of aviation fuel for the Luftwaffe in Norway. After the successful attack MTB 56 dodged shells from both the escorts and a coastal battery at Korsneset and met Draug the next morning to be towed back to Lerwick in Shetland. Fourteen Norwegian sailors died on Borgny, which was escorted by two German naval vessels at the time of the attack.
  From April 1942 until her decommissioning 5 February 1943, Draug was used as a depot ship in Port Edgar for personnel of the Royal Norwegian Navy.
  Even though officially decommissioned from the Royal Norwegian Navy, Draug continued serving the allied cause. From 5 February to 2 September, she was on loan to the Royal Navy for special exercises and trials. The final decommissioning came on 19 November 1943 and she was sold for scrapping in 1944.
  Three of the 7.6 cm guns from Draug were sent to the Norwegian Arctic archipelago Svalbard in mid-1944. The three guns were landed at Longyearbyen on 20 June 1944 and formed the main defence weapons of the coal mining town. Installed in overbuilt protected positions, the guns from Draug replaced three 10 cm Bofors guns originally from the destroyer Sleipner. The 10 cm guns had been destroyed in the successful German attack on Svalbard on 8 September 1943.
caption: The crew of MTB 56 lined up on board Draug
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