On this day in 1628 the Swedish warship Vasa sinks on her maiden voyage off Stockholm.
https://i.redd.it/4my30ta9krhd1.jpeg
by atdoru
On this day in 1628 the Swedish warship Vasa sinks on her maiden voyage off Stockholm.
https://i.redd.it/4my30ta9krhd1.jpeg
by atdoru
22 comments
While the Thirty Years’ War was raging in Europe, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden realized he needed a stronger naval presence if he were to retain his dominance in the Baltic. He ordered five heavy-duty warships to be built.
The 226-foot-long Vasa, with two gun decks, 64 bronze cannons, and a 450-man crew, was to be a mighty vessel; each broadside was capable of hurling some 250 kg of shot, which was twice as much as the most powerful European ships of her day.
But the project became fraught with problems: the king was pressing for quick delivery, yet he kept interfering with the plans, demanding constant modifications; a shortage of money mid-project led to more delays; and to cap it all the head shipwright died suddenly.
After many delays, the Vasa was ready for her maiden voyage on a calm day with a light breeze. After sailing roughly 1,300 meters the sail suddenly billowed, and the Vasa heeled violently to port. The ship righted itself, but at the next gust the ship leaned even further, and water poured into the open gun ports, and Vasa toppled sideways and quickly sank only 120 meters from land in full view of a crowd of thousands.
Gustavus Adolphus was incandescent with rage. The ship’s captain, Söfring Hansson, was immediately arrested, while the shipbuilders and the crew blamed each other. It soon became clear that it was the actual construction at fault. There was nobody to blame: the original contractor was dead, and the king himself had personally overseen every measurement.
Modern analyses by naval architects and engineers have determined that the ship’s very design caused the disaster. After the ship was raised from the floor of the channel on 24 April 1961, calculations proved that the Vasa was so unstable it would have keeled over even in a light breeze of four knots. It was top-heavy to accommodate an untenable concentration of heavy cannons on two gun decks, weighed down further by the massive sculptures on the prow with which warships of the period were customarily decorated. The ship was simply too high above the water relative to the relatively small keel size below.
The Vasa is now on display at the Vasa Museum on Djurgarden island in central Stockholm, alongside museums devoted to Viking culture and the Swedish pop group ABBA.
It is one of Sweden’s foremost tourist attractions.
Interesting reading, thanks
amazing! one good person and blogger whom I follow just posted photos with him. I find it wonderful that such a museum exists in which such an exhibit is kept.
I had the luck to visit it last year while I was in Stockholm for 5 days! It was insane!
This is one of the greatest example of how things actually weren’t built better “back in the days” – but the one that weren’t are long forgotten, abandoned, rotten, sank or destroyed.
When my ship in From The Depths sinks without ever seeing enemy, it’s always nice to read cases like that. It was not the first time nor the last time a badly designed ship, by people who were professionals in designing ships, sank.
Aahh… the famous Polish plot!
I wonder how it would change history if the Vasa had not sunk? Maybe the only outcome would be that there is no Vasa museum?
One of the better pranks in Finnish history was few university students placing [a small statue of Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi](https://img.ilcdn.fi/7cF61ry7UQEO89R2XtnVVemJVtE=/full-fit-in/1024×0/img-s3.ilcdn.fi/43c25fd9d2790cd58ddf957f40ceaf0b69db3f33427aa49760391d7da9ec0240.jpg) on the ship prior to its lifting from the sea.
[This article](https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/1e63c396-6aa8-44c3-9ae0-001384698b30) claims that the archeologists were initially excited, wondering if it could be a statute of Hermes.
Finns did harbor some bad feelings towards Swedes, as they had run a campaing to ban Nurmi from participating in the 1932 Olympics. He had made some money from his running and the Swedes complained that he was no longer an amateur.
The greatest athlete in Finnish history missed out on his last Olympics because of the usual Swedish jealousy.
Gorgeous ship.
Been there a couple of years ago. Maybe one of my favourite museums I have been in.
They were visionary! Already thinking of creating a great museum!
It’s amazing what you can do with wood panelling, clear instructions and a single Allen key.
Perfect example of how project management works at big corpo – everything was fine, but they asked for more features, didn’t listened to engineers and then production failed.
Thus becoming the world’s first combat submarine? 🙂
This ship was one of the most interesting and unique things I have ever seen on my travels and I would recommend it to everyone.
I am not into ships in any way and I always expected to blown away by things like Times Square, Eiffel Tower, Colliseum, Buckingham Palave, gthe Pyramids etc etc, but in my opinion, this was better than them all.
This museum is amazing about that era shiplife. And that ship is breathtaking. Visit, if you’re in Stockholm
this was one of the coolest museums I’ve ever been to
Shiver me timbers! the condition is amazing. We have a ship with a similar story called the Mary Rose and all that’s left is part of the side.
the moral of the story is never trust an Italian to make a structural design. all bling up top and no foundations
To this day, entering this museum is the most “HOLY SHIT” moment of my tourist life.
I was expecting something special, but man seeing that huge monster of a ship in such a well preserved condition, the second you walk through the museum entrance, it sent shivers down my spine.
I believe if you were to stand right next to the entrance you’d just spend the day hearing “HOLY FUCK” in different languages.
Vasa knæk båd