The Spica and its successor, Spica II, a.k.a Norrköping, classes were undoubtedly one
of the sexiest fast attack craft of their time.
Even though they never saw action, they are highly praised by naval enthusiasts.
Today, we are investigating the Spica and Norrköping classes, the legendary fast-attack
crafts of the Baltic.
The Spica and the Norrköping classes are symbols of the change in the Swedish Navy.
So, one vessel of each class is in the listing of historic ships in Sweden and preserved
in sea-worthy condition.
They were the children of the new naval concept of the Swedish Navy.
During the 1950s, the tension between the western and eastern blocks constantly raised.
Sweden had to reorganize its armed forces to adapt to the new situation and protect
its policy of neutrality.
So, on February 4, 1958, the Swedish Riksdag passed the Defence Act of 1958, which prioritized
the army and the air force.
Sweden reduced to navy's share in the defence budget from 18 to 12 per cent.
The major surface combatants would be gradually replaced by the fast attack crafts in the
anti-surface warfare mission, and the submarines would become the backbone of anti-submarine
warfare missions.
But the existing vessels were insufficient for the new mission definition.
Based on the experiences that came from the Pleiad class, the Swedish naval staff required
a new fast attack craft, which would have better weaponry, electronics, protection and
machinery.
The Pleiad-class boats had three 2,500-horsepower Daimler Benz MB 518 diesels.
Later, the Swedish engineers modified the engines and increased the power output to
3,000 horsepower.
But, it was still insufficient to answer the new requirement of the Swedish naval staff.
Also, the wooden hull of the Pleiad class, which was a standard for torpedo boats in
these years, could not meet the criteria for the protection level.
So, Marine Plan 60 was added, which initiated the commissioning of a new and highly capable
submarine and torpedo boat.
In 1961, Sweden opened an international tender and evaluated British, German and Norwegian
fast attack crafts.
Yet none of them could offer a boat suitable for the Swedish Navy's requirements.
Still, the new Jaguar-class design of Lürssen was promising except for its wooden hull and
diesel engines.
This German shipbuilder sold the construction drawings of the boat to Sweden.
The Swedish naval engineers used these drawings to develop the Spica class, which would become
the template for subsequent Swedish fast attack craft.
Unlike the wooden-hulled Jaguar class, the Spica class, which shared the same hull design,
had a steel hull and gas turbines.
The first boat of the class, HMS Spica, was launched on April 26, 1966, and commissioned
on August 26 of the same year.
Sweden built six vessels in this class and named them after stars.
The last one, HMS Virgo, was commissioned on March 22, 1968.
The Spica class was one of the most modern torpedo boats of its time.
It was revolutionary in various areas, especially hull construction, drive concept and armament.
The hull was of steel, and the superstructure was of aluminium alloys.
Using metals made the boat heavy, which increased stability.
Also, the location of the bridge and operations room, positioned at the rolling and stamping
centre, improved stability further.
Thus, even at high sea states, the Spica class offered high comfort for the crew and a stable
platform for the weapons' accuracy.
Another innovation, compared to the previous German and Swedish counterparts, was that
the Spica class used wire-guided torpedoes instead of unguided ones.
So, the boat could redirect them even after the launch, which increased the probability
of a hit.
Also, thanks to its highly modern fire control system at the time, which consisted of a fire
control radar and a relatively primitive computer, the Spica class could calculate precise fire
control solutions for the torpedoes.
The 533mm wire-controlled Torped 61 torpedo had 45 knots speed and 24 kilometres range.
Its warhead was 250 kilograms.
All six torpedo tubes were rigidly mounted on a slightly angled position from the longitudinal
axis.
There were no spare torpedoes on board.
The four torpedo tubes at the aft could be removed to accommodate rails for laying sea
mines and throwing depth charges.
Still, the boat had limited anti-submarine warfare capability since it had no sonar.
The 57mm Bofors SAK Mk1 gun of the Spica class had a rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute
and a maximum range of 17,000 metres.
Later, it was replaced by the SAK Mk 2.
This variant had a rate of fire of 220 rounds per minute and faster target-acquisition capability,
and it could fire new types of ammunition.
There were six racks for the 103mm illumination rockets on the turret.
The plan in the 1980s to replace the torpedo tubes with anti-ship missiles was never realised.
The Spica class could be sealed airtight, and a filter system was cleaning the air.
So, it had NBC protection.
The gas turbines had a high power output, which gave the Spica class a top speed of
over 40 knots.
Yet, they were not reliable enough and were experiencing malfunction often.
For this reason, two of three gas turbines were running during the course in general
use.
The crew was activating the third one during the attack.
The boat had six watertight compartments and could float even if two adjacent ones were
flooded.
Despite its highly advanced design, the Spica was still a torpedo boat.
In the same years, the main nemesis, the Soviet Navy, began to commission Komar and Osa class
missile boats.
So, we may say, in one regard, the Spica class was obsolete since the beginning.
The service life of the Spica-class boats is uneventful.
They never participated in any major incident.
HMS Castor and HMS Sirius were decommissioned in 1985 and the rest in 1989.
Still, HMS Spica is preserved as a museum ship.
HMS Spica is still fully operational.
She also makes trips during the summer, which can be booked.
According to Jane's Major Warships, the complement of the Spica class was 30 people.
It had a length of 42.5 metres, a beam of 7.1 metres and a draught of 1.6 metres.
The boat's standard displacement was 200 tons, while its fully-loaded displacement was 235
tons.
Three 4,500 horsepower Rolls-Royce Proteus 1282 gas turbines provided a maximum speed
of 40 knots.
Based on the experience gained with the Spica class, Sweden decided to design a new boat,
called the Spica II class, in the early 1970s.
Later, this class was renamed the Norrköping class.
The first vessel of the class, HMS Norrköping, was launched on November 16, 1972, and commissioned
on May 11, 1973.
The Swedish Navy took 12 Norrköping-class boats into the service until 1976.
It had some minor changes from the previous Spica class.
The Norrköping class was 1.1 meters longer than its predecessor.
Its standard displacement was 190 tons, while its fully-loaded displacement was 230 tons.
It had an improved air intake, enabling the ships to reach up to 42 knots speed.
The initial armament of the Norrköping class was the same as the Spica class.
It had one 57mm Bofors SAK Mk1 gun and six 533mm torpedo tubes.
But, unlike the Spica class, the new boat had the domestically produced Saab 9LV 200
Mk.1.
The boat had been designed to allow the integration of future anti-ship missiles from the beginning.
The Swedish Navy was one of the pioneers of ship-based anti-ship missiles.
The Halland-class destroyer was the first major Western surface combatant equipped with
this weapon system.
Also, Swedish Navy had the Hugin missile boat.
They had the Penguin missiles with a 34-kilometre range, whose Swedish designation was the Robot12.
The Swedish Navy, which had a deep-rooted ship-based anti-ship missile tradition, decided
to replace the four aft torpedo tubes of the Norrköping-class boats with the RBS 15s in
the early 1980s.
The trial was conducted on HMS Piteå.
The result was successful.
So, Sweden converted all Norrköping-class torpedo boats to missile boats between 1982
and 1985.
The RBS 15 Mk I had a 200-kilogram high-explosive blast pre-fragmented warhead and a range of
70 kilometres.
Its speed was Mach 0.8.
Also, the Torped 61s were replaced by the Torped 613 torpedoes.
The new one had a range of 30 kilometres.
Like the Spica class, the Norrköping class was re-equipped with SAK Mk 2 gun.
Since the RBS 15 offered twice the range of the Robot 12, the modernization also included
the integration of long-range Sea Giraffe radar and the MARIS-880 weapons control system.
Thanks to the MARIS-880, the Norrköping class had over-the-horizon engagement capability
by receiving target data from helicopters.
At first, like the Spica class, the Norrköping class boats had a pennant number, that started
with the letter "T".
This letter referred to the Swedish word "torpedbåtar", which means torpedo boat.
Now, since the Norrköping class became a missile boat, the letter "T" was changed to
"R", the initial of the Swedish word for missile boat, "Robotbåt".
Between 1996 and 2000, Sweden modernized six vessels of this class to keep them in service
until the Visby-class corvettes were commissioned.
The MARIL2000 replaced the MARIS-880 weapons control system.
Also, the boats received other new advanced electronics.
After the modernization, these six boats were redefined as the Ystad class.
When the Soviet Whiskey-class submarine, S-363, was aground outside Karlskrona in October
1981, which also known as the U 137 incident, the interrogations of Soviet officers and
diplomats were carried out on HMS Västervik.
This boat had monitored the large-scale Soviet exercise, Zapad 81, out in the Baltic Sea
one month ago.
HMS Västervik became the first decommissioned Norrköping class boat in 1997.
As mentioned before, six vessels had been modernized to be kept in service until 2010.
But, due to economic reasons and changing threat perceptions, Sweden retired all boats
by 2005.
HMS Västervik is preserved as a museum ship.
In 2006, HMS Ystad was taken over by a non-profit association that handles maintenance and operation.
So, she has been stripped of the HMS prefix.
Ystad is still in sea-worthy condition.
The Stockholm-class corvettes, which share the same hull design, were initially defined
as the Spica III class.
The Handalan-class, or Spica-M-class, missile boats of the Royal Malaysian Navy are the
modified variant of the Norrköping class.
They were built in Sweden.
Unlike the Swedish sisters, the Handalan-class boats with bridge amidships have three MTU
diesel engines, a fully loaded displacement of 240 tons, a length of 43.6 metres, and
a draught of 2.4 metres.
They have one Bofors 40 mm L/70 gun on the aft and Exocet MM38 anti-ship missiles.
The Končar-class missile boats, based on the Norrköping class, were built in Yugoslavia.
These boats have two diesel engines and two gas turbines.
Initially, they carried two SS-N-2 Styx anti-ship missiles and two 57mm Bofors SAK Mk1 guns
instead of one.
Today, the Montenegrin Navy operates two Končar-class vessels as patrol boats without missiles.
Also, Šibenik in this class, which has the RBS-15 missiles, one 57mm Bofors SAK Mk1 gun
and AK-630 close-in weapon system, is still in serving in the Croatian Navy.
Similarly, the Willemoes-class missile boat of the Royal Danish Navy was based on the
Norrköping class.
Some viewers may claim that no naval ship can be a legend without combat achievements.
But according to Sun Tzu, the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
The Spica class and its successor, the Norrköping class, successfully defended the Swedish coastlines
for nearly 40 years.
So we may say they were legendary divas of the art of war.
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