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rbajter t1_itpkb5r wrote

Reply to comment by fredagsfisk in Archaeologists have found the 17th-century warship Applet: Maritime experts believe wreck is sister-ship of Vasa, which sank off Stockholm in 1629 by MeatballDom

I heard that these old wooden ships usually serverd around 12 years before being replaced.

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fredagsfisk t1_itpn3dz wrote

Hmm, sounds very low, so I don't think that's correct. I know that the cannons apparently had a much longer service life than the ships themselves tho, and that they'd be salvaged and reused when one sank.

For Swedish "regalskepp" (the largest ships of the navy during the 1600s):

Äpplet - 3 years, sold

Vasa - 0 years, sank instantly

Äpplet - 29 years, sunk on purpose (the one in the article)

Kronan - 43 years, sunk on purpose

Göta Ark - 16 years, scrapped

Scepter - 39 years, sunk on purpose

Draken - 21 years, stranded during battle

Viktoria - 28 years, sunk on purpose

Saturnus - 45 years, though was rebuilt and renamed Bohus after 25 years

Riksäpplet - 15 years, sank during storm

Svärdet - 13 years, sank in battle

Wrangel - 49 years, though was rebuilt after 25 years

Nyckeln - 14 years, sank by own crew during battle to avoid capture

Mars - 12 years, captured by Denmark

Jupiter - 45 years, sank (not sure why)

Venus - 39 years, though was rebuilt and renamed Finland after 18 years

Kronan (aka Stora Kronan) - 4 years, exploded and sank during battle

Solen - 25 years, sunk on purpose

Mercurius - 48 years, though was captured by the Dutch 5 years after it was launched

Please note that these dates are the time that passed from launch to sinking or decommissioning, and that not all of them had a service life that long.

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fiendishrabbit t1_itpnjg3 wrote

Depends on the era, building material and size.

A well-built 74-gun ship-of-the-line built out of well-dried oak were on average in service for maybe 30-50 years. British second rates (90-gun ships) tended to be in service for 60-80 years unless they were wrecked.

On the opposite end we have ships like the Endymion class frigates, which served for about a decade. But these ships were built out of fir instead of oak (because of a shortage of oak and the need to complete them quickly)

Swedish ships tended to live a hard life though, and a very large amount of them were sunk or captured. The longest serving ship was Äran (Glory), with it's 90 years in Swedish service before sinking (due to fire).

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EzKafka t1_itpqj4r wrote

We had such a long coast but yet we had a horrible trackrecord on the sea. The Danes beat us to it many times.

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fiendishrabbit t1_itpurev wrote

The swedish navy has always played second fiddle to the swedish army.

Also, while the "örlogsflottan" (open water navy) frequently performed poorly the archipelago fleet (consisting of galleys, gunsloops and the smaller archipelago frigates) mostly performed quite well (like Frisches Haff, Nöteborg and the second battle of Svensksund).

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EzKafka t1_itq5eqh wrote

Yeah, thats a big point to be honest. Sweden was mainly an inland sea. Danes had much more oceanic waters to handle. Also, the inclusion of British and Dutch navies screwing us both over to keep the balance was also a big help.

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