Bärsärk-class cruiser

### Displacement

19,000 t (19,305 metric tons) (standard)20,317 t (20,643 metric tons) (full load)

### Length

208.5 m (684 ft) (overall)205 m (673 ft) (waterline)

### Propulsion

2 shaft de Laval direct-drive turbines3 Motala four-drum oil boilers

62,017 shp (46,265 kW)

### Range

4,000 nautical miles (7,408 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)

### Armament

16 x 28.3 cm/45 M/12 guns14 x 10.5 cm/50 M/32 DP guns

20 x 40 mm M/36 Automatkanon autocannons

20 x 25 mm M/38 Automatkanon autocannons

12 x 53.3 cm torpedo tubes

### Armour

Waterline belt: 150–50 mm (6–2 in)Deck: 100–50 mm (4–2 in)

Barbettes: 150 mm (6 in)

Turrets: 150–100 mm (6–4 in)

Conning towers: 150–50 mm (6–2 in)

Torpedo bulkhead: 100 mm (4 in)

### Aircraft Facilities

1 x compressed air catapult

The ***Bärsärk*-class cruisers** were a proposed class of coastal defense ships developed in Sweden from 1938-1940 as a replacement for the elderly *Sverige*-class. Some engineering work was subcontracted out to the Italian firm Odero Terni Orlando S.p.A., primarily relating to the design of the ship's torpedo defense system and propulsion plant. The *Bärsärk*-class was intended to incorporate naval lessons learned from the recent Russo-Finnish Winter War, particularly regarding the importance of coastal defense ships for naval gunfire support of ground forces, and placed a high priority on tactical speed and volume of fire as a result. However, the somewhat radical nature of the design led to it being passed over in favor of more conventional alternatives.

## Background

In 1904, Sweden established its first permanent naval squadron, the Coastal Fleet (Swedish: *Kustflottan*). Organized as a traditional open-sea battle group, the Coastal Fleet relied on a core of 'armored ships' (Swedish: *pansarskepp*) - slow-moving craft built with the armor and firepower of a capital ship, but small enough to operate in shallow littoral waters. Operationally, the heavy ships of the Kustflottan would be supported by torpedo boats, minelayers, destroyers, submarines, and land-based aircraft to drive off or destroy larger enemy warships.

The first of the Swedish pansarkepp, the *Oden*-class, was laid down in 1894. Subsequent classes had steadily increased in size and capability, culminating in the three ships of the 1912 *Sverige*-class. Despite comprehensive refits carried out in the 1920s and 1930s to modernize them, however, the *Sverige*-class were obsolete by 1938. As a result, the Royal Swedish Naval Materiel Administration (Swedish: *Kungliga Marinförvaltningen*, KMF) authorized a series of design studies for a successor ship class, with the intent of beginning construction in mid-1940. Rising tensions in the Baltic considerably increased the urgency of the project, particularly the 1939 Soviet invasion of Finland.

The KMF **Pansarskepp1938** requirement called for a ship not more than 19,000 tons at Washington Naval Treaty standard displacement, with a target speed of at least 23 knots - an ambitious project for a country that had never built a modern warship larger than 8,000 tons. The maximum deep draught would be restricted to 7 meters - slightly more than the 6.2 meters of *Sverige* at full load, but considerably less than the 9 meters required by the Soviet Union's *Sevastopol*-class dreadnoughts, which were the most immediate concern of the Swedish admiralty. In 1939, the assistance of the armaments and engineering corporation OTO was sought out by the Swedish government, and production licenses were obtained for several modern Italian Navy capital ship weapons, which were then incorporated into some of the design studies.

## Design

The *Bärsärk*-class can trace its origins to **Coastal Cruiser 1938** (Swedish: *Kustkryssare 1938*), a series of design studies intended to develop a shallow-draft, high-speed cruiser capable of satisfying the KMF requirement. The earliest versions, A1 through A6, were 12,000-15,000 ton ships characterized by extremely powerful machinery (some iterations had speed in excess of 34 knots) and minimal armor protection. Conceptually, the design team believed that such a ship could quickly move up and down the coastline, acting as a 'mobile artillery regiment' to bombard enemy fortifications, troop concentrations, transportation centers, and supply depots; it would have sufficient firepower to overwhelm smaller opponents, and could use its shallow draft and superior speed to evade more powerful warships. A7 - the definitive design in the series, which incorporated what the design team felt were the best characteristics of the preceding studies - was presented to the Admiralty Board (Swedish: *Amiralitetskollegium*) in March 1939, where it met with an extremely unenthusiastic reception.

The Amiralitetskollegium felt that Kustkryssare 1938 A7 was vulnerable to air attack, torpedoes, and mines; that it was insufficiently protected against cruiser gunfire; and that its speed was excessive given it would be required to operate in company with the slower aviation cruiser HMS *Gotland*. Undeterred, the design team immediately started work on a new series of revised studies, B1 through B4, that would address the Admiralty Board's concerns. These were much larger ships, built up to the requirement maximum displacement of 19,000 tons.