HNoMS Thor was a monitor

Monitor (warship)

A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...

 built for the Royal Norwegian Navy

Royal Norwegian Navy

The Royal Norwegian Navy is the branch of the Norwegian Defence Force responsible for naval operations. , the RNoN consists of approximately 3,700 personnel and 70 vessels, including 5 heavy frigates, 6 submarines, 14 patrol boats, 4 minesweepers, 4 minehunters, 1 mine detection vessel, 4 support...

 in 1871. She was decommissioned

Ship decommissioning

To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....

 in 1918, long after her heavy guns were outdated. She was considered an improvement on the Skorpionen

HNoMS Skorpionen

HNoMS Skorpionen was a monitor built for the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1865, as the lead ship of a three-ship strong class. She was scrapped in 1908, well after her muzzle-loading guns were outdated.The two other ships in her class was and...

 class of monitors, with heavier armour and a wider beam.

The name was a reference to the Norse god Thor

Thor

In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...

. The earlier monitor Mjølner was named after Thor's hammer.

Details

Thor was armed with two heavy rifled muzzleloaders in a revolving turret. She had 7 inches of iron armour on her deck, and her turret was protected by 14 inches of iron armour.

Wreck

After decommissioning, Thor was intended for scrapping. On 7 March, 1919, while being towed to the scrapyard, the ship was caught in a storm that broke the towing cable, stranding Thor on an island outside Verdens Ende

Verdens Ende

Verdens Ende is located at the southernmost tip of the island of Tjøme in Vestfold, Norway.It is a scenic spot with panoramic views of the Skagerrak and fishing facilities. It is composed of various islets and rocks. It is one of the most popular scenic locations in the area. It also has a replica...

 in Vestfold

Vestfold

is a county in Norway, bordering Buskerud and Telemark. The county administration is in Tønsberg.Vestfold is located west of the Oslofjord, as the name indicates. It includes many smaller, but well-known towns in Norway, such as Larvik, Sandefjord, Tønsberg and Horten. The river Numedalslågen runs...

. Two crew members were killed in the accident. Thor later sank in shallow water. A salvage

Marine salvage

Marine salvage is the process of rescuing a ship, its cargo, or other property from peril. Salvage encompasses rescue towing, refloating a sunken or grounded vessel, or patching or repairing a ship...

 operation removed parts of the ship, but the wreck remains largely intact and now lies at a depth of 8 to 14 meters southwest of Verdens Ende.

Thor is one of only three accessible monitor vessels in the world, the others being USS Monitor

USS Monitor

USS Monitor was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She is most famous for her participation in the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, the first-ever battle fought between two ironclads...

, which lies at about 60 meters some 42 kilometers southeast of Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras is a cape on the coast of North Carolina. It is the point that protrudes the farthest to the southeast along the northeast-to-southwest line of the Atlantic coast of North America...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 and the other being HMVS Cerberus

HMVS Cerberus

HMVS Cerberus is a breastwork monitor that served in the Victoria Naval Forces, the Commonwealth Naval Forces , and the Royal Australian Navy between 1871 and 1924....

, in 5 metres of water in Victoria, Australia.

Notable crew

• Johan Oscar Smith
  Johan Oscar Smith
  Johan Oscar Smith was a Norwegian Christian leader who founded the evangelical non-denominational fellowship now known as Brunstad Christian Church.-Early life and career:...
  
  , founder of Brunstad Christian Church served as a gunnery officer on Thor in 1898.