User:Viking1808/Norwegian Navy 1814

This is a new page to list all connections to the Norwegian Navy of 1814. Perhaps a later article, or to aid a new category. References to be added later, as required.

Under the Treaty of Kiel, which provided for the separation of Norway from Denmark, those naval vessels in Norwegian ports automatically transferred to the new Norwegian navy. Officers were given the choice to transfer as well. The main vessels transferred consisted of seven brigs and eight gun-schooners. Thirty-five officers transferred too.

However, Scandinavian politics of 1814 proved complicated. The Treaty of Kiel was unsuccessful, and after the declaration of Norwegian independence, Sweden attempted to recover its sovereignty by force. This led to a truce at the Convention of Moss on 14 August 1814. All units of the small Norwegian fleet remained on their respective stations until mid-October of that year, when they were ordered to be laid up. The national ownership of the seven brigs (including the laid-up Lougen) was only finally resolved in 1816 after negotiations in Christiana (modern day Oslo) between Captain (Danish: Komkapt) Carl Adolph Rothe for the Danes and Admiral Jens Schou Fabricius for the Norwegians.

Seven brigs

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On 27 January 1816 Captain Rothe, Copenhagen's Harbourmaster, was ordered to travel to Norway with full Danish authorisation (accompanied by senior lieutenant P. Sandholt) to take charge of the Danish-owned navy brigs and arrange for their repatriation to Copenhagen. On 19 February he reported that he had arrived in Christiania (modern day Oslo) and presented himself to Minister Fasting who had had no orders from the Swedish-Norwegian king to deliver up these ships. Rothe further reported on 25 April that his Norwegian counterpart, Admiral Fabricius, did not dispute the Danes' right to five of the brigs, but proposed consideration of the feeling in Norway whether the affair could be settled by Norway paying suitable compensation for keeping the ships.

Rothe sent Sandholt back to Copenhagen for instructions from the king, and on 22 June agreement was reached between Rothe and Fabricius. The brigs Allart and Seagull which had been captured in Norwegian waters were awarded to Norway. The other five brigs that were already in Norway would stay there on payment of 95,000 specie dollars.[Note 1] in compensation.[1] Rothe received a bonus of 4,000 Rdl, paid in January 1818, in recognition of his successful mission to Norway.[2]

Captured in Norwegian waters
Stationed in Norwegian waters in 1814

In addition, Fredericksværn, which was under construction in 1814, was also transferred to the Norwegian navy.

Gunboats

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Eight Dano-Norwegian gun-schooners were still in service in 1814, all of them based in the Norwegian ports of Bergen and Trondheim. The schooners therefore continued their careers in the Norwegian navy, with the last serving until 1872. Norwayalso took over a large number of little gunboats (kanonjolle) suitable primarily only mostly for close-coastal defence.

  • Norske Kanonskonnert Nr. 1 (renamed Odin 1808)
  • Hother
  • Valkyrien
  • Nornen
  • Axel Thorsen
  • Skiøn Valborg
  • Thor
  • Balder

Officers of the Dano-Norwegian navy who transferred to the Norwegian navy in 1814

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There were only some 35 naval officers in the new Norwegian navy after the Treaty of Kiel (Fra Krigens Tid)

Naval Officers from Gunboat War buried in Norway (pre 1814)

Battles and Events influencing Norway 1814

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Swedish Connections

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Norwegian Ministers for the Navy

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  • Thomas Fasting
  • Jens Schou Fabricius and successors.

Footnotes

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Notes
  1. ^ Based on the silver content of this sum and the silver bullion price in May 2012, this amounts to a little over $2 million US dollars at today's value
Citations
  1. ^ Topsøe-Jensen Vol II pages 413-414
  2. ^ Topsøe-Jensen Vol II pages 413-414

References

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  • Fra Krigens Tid (1807 - 1814) (From the wartime) edited by N A Larson, Christiana (Oslo) 1878. Index*T. A. Topsøe-Jensen og Emil Marquard (1935) “Officerer i den dansk-norske Søetat 1660-1814 og den danske Søetat 1814-1932“. (Danish-Norwegian Naval Officers)
  • List of Ministers for the Navy [1]