HDMS Iver Hvitfeldt (1886)

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By the end of the 19th century, which had seen Denmark's decline from a major navy before the devastating Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 to a minor coastal defense force by the 1890s, the Royal Danish Navy was primarily concerned with countering the naval strength of its neighbor, Imperial Germany. Between the 1860s and 1870s, Denmark had purchased or built a total of eight ironclad warships, which were predominantly coastal defense ships. These were employed in an integrated coastal defense network for the island of Zealand, where the capital at Copenhagen lay. The naval law passed in May 1880 set the fleet's strength at eight ironclads; four cruisers; ten smaller corvettes, schooners, or gunboats; twelve ironclad gunboats; and thirty torpedo boats.^[1][2]

In 1880, the navy's designers at the Orlogsværftet began work on a proposal for a new coastal defense ship to replace one of the oldest ironclads; this new vessel was based on the coastal defense ship Helgoland. But the limited Danish naval budget prevented building the ship, as the funds available for construction were directed toward the new unprotected cruiser Fyen. As a result, the design for the new coastal defense ship was not approved by the naval minister until 27 June 1883. The new vessel, which was named Iver Hvitfeldt, incorporated elements from foreign designs.^[2]

The design staff grappled with the problem of strengthening the armor to defeat contemporary armor-piercing shells, balanced against carrying an effective armament and retaining a useful top speed, while trying to keep displacement within reason. As a weight-saving measure, they abandoned the attempt for a full waterline belt and instead only armored the central section, relying on a thinner, curved armor deck to protect the bow and stern. The central citadel would retain enough buoyancy to keep the ship afloat even if the bow and stern were flooded; this principle was borrowed from British ironclads in service at the time.^[2]

Iver Hvitfeldt had a steel hull,^[2] which was 74 m (242 ft 9 in) long between perpendiculars. It had a beam of 15.11 m (49 ft 7 in) and a maximum draft of 5.59 m (18 ft 4 in). She displaced 3,392 long tons (3,446 t) as designed. Her crew amounted to 277 officers and enlisted men.^[3] The ship was completed with central heating and electric lights. She was fitted with six 400 mm (15.7 in) searchlights, two on the bridge above the conning tower; the rest were on the two pole masts or upper deck. The ship initially carried a pair of small torpedo boats, named Nr. 8 and Nr. 9, which were built by Thornycroft; these were lowered into the water by a steam winch and a large boom.^[2]

The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of two-cylinder, compound steam engines that drove a pair of screw propellers. The machinery was manufactured by the Danish shipyard Burmeister & Wain. Steam was provided by eight coal-fired boilers that were vented through a single funnel. The boilers were divided into four boiler rooms.^[2][4] Her engines were rated to produce 5,100 indicated horsepower (3,800 kW), for a top speed of 15.25 knots (28.24 km/h; 17.55 mph). She carried 290 long tons (290 t) of coal for her boilers.^[5] This enabled Iver Hvidfeldt to steam for 1,600 nautical miles (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at a cruising speed of 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph).^[2]

The ship's main battery consisted of a pair of 260 mm (10.2 in) 35-caliber guns, which were manufactured by the German firm Krupp. The guns were mounted in rotating pear-shaped barbette mounts, one forward and one aft.^[2][5] The barbettes were fitted with thin steel hoods to protect the gun crews from shell fragments.^[6] The guns had a rate of fire of one shot every four minutes, and each gun was supplied with a total of 75 shells. Their maximum range was 9,500 m (31,200 ft). The guns were manually operated and loaded. The guns had an arc of fire of 248 degrees, and they could be trained at a rate of 90 degrees every 40 seconds; to traverse from one extreme to the other, it took a total of 110 seconds.^[2][a]

These guns were supported by a secondary battery of four 120 mm (4.7 in) 30-caliber guns, each mounted in sponsons at the corners of the superstructure. The guns were fitted with light gun shields to protect the crews from anti-personnel fire. These guns had a range of 7,900 m (25,900 ft) and a rate of fire of one shot every ninety seconds. They were supplied with a total of 400 shells between them. Two 57 mm (2.2 in) L/44 Hotchkiss guns were placed in sponsons between the 120 mm guns; these had a range of 7,000 m (23,000 ft) and a rate of fire of ten shots per minute. Each gun was supplied with 300 shells. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, the ship was armed with eight 1-pounder Hotchkiss revolver cannon.^[2]

She also carried four torpedo tubes; two were 356 mm (14 in) and the other two were 381 mm (15 in).^[5] Both of these were the Whitehead torpedo type.^[4] The 381 mm tubes were in the bow and stern, while the 356 mm tubes were placed on each broadside. The bow tube was submerged, but the remainder were above-water tubes.^[2]

Iver Hvitfeldt was protected with compound armor manufactured by Cammell Laird of Britain. Her belt armor was 292 mm (11.5 in) thick, though it only covered the central portion of her hull, accounting for about half the length of the ship. The belt was placed on 314 mm (12.4 in) of teak, behind which two 13 mm (0.51 in) layers of steel formed the inner skin of the hull.^[2][5] The belt covered a length of 50 m (164 ft), and was 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) wide from top to bottom.^[6] The main portion of the belt extended from 0.4 m (1 ft 4 in) above the waterline to 0.6 m (2 ft 0 in) below; here, it was reduced in thickness half. This thinner section of belt extended another 0.78 m (2 ft 7 in) down the hull. At either end of the belt, a curved, armored bulkhead that was 240 mm (9.4 in) thick connected the two sides of the ship.^[2]

She was protected with an armor deck, composed of three different segments. The first covered the citadel and was 54 mm (2.1 in) thick; it was flat, and connected to the top edge of the belt. Forward and aft, a curved armor deck extended from the citadel below the waterline to provide a degree of protection to the bow and stern. The forward deck also sloped downward toward the bow to support the ram. The fore and aft decks were placed below the waterline, and the bow and stern were heavily subdivided into a total of 55 watertight compartments to reduce the effects of flooding due to damage. The main battery barbettes were protected with 216 mm (8.5 in) of armor plate, layered on top of teak planking, and then an inner liner of 11 mm (0.43 in) of steel armor. The steel hoods for the guns were 40 mm (1.6 in) thick. Her conning tower was protected with 115 mm (5 in) of compound armor layered on 38 mm (1.5 in) of steel plate. An armored tube with the same level of protection extended below the conning tower; all communication means from the bridge were conducted through this tube, including telegraph wires, speaking tubes, and control cables from the helm.^[2]

The ship was modified several times in the course of her career, including two major refits. Bullivant anti-torpedo nets were installed in 1890. In 1894, it was decided that the torpedo boats should no longer be carried, and Iver Hvidfeldt exchanged them for a pair of steam barges that could be fitted with 1-pounder revolver cannon and a spar torpedo. In 1897, another six 1-pounder revolver cannon were added to strengthen the light battery, along with a pair of 1-pounder automatic guns and two 8 mm (0.31 in) machine guns. At some point in the 1890s or early 1900s, the original searchlights were removed and a pair of 900 mm (35 in) searchlights were installed, one on platforms on each mast. During this period, a wireless telegraph was also added.^[2]

In 1904, the two 356 mm torpedo tubes were removed, along with the anti-torpedo nets. The 120 mm guns were removed in 1906–1907 and eight 57 mm guns were added, bringing the total number of those guns to ten. Just three years later, four of the 57 mm guns were transferred to the coastal defense ship Skjold, and by 1912, the remaining six guns were replaced with 47 mm (1.9 in) guns. The ship had had all guns except the 260 mm guns removed by 1916.^[2]