A Norwegian warship sailed under Tower Bridge yesterday (Thursday, February 23) and has laid anchor next to the HMS Belfast.
The crew of the HNoMS Nordkapp (A531) held a minute’s silence to commemorate the first anniversary of the Ukraine War on Friday, February 24.
The News is yet to find out how long the 105-metre vessel will be moored up on Bermondsey’s riverfront, but crowds are flocking to take snaps of the mighty minesweeper.
Earlier this month, the ship successfully detonated a British World War II-era bomb off the coast of Amsterdam.
The Seagulls keeping a watchful eye from Cutty Sark Gardens as HNoMS Nordkapp (A531) @NorwayNATO @NorwayinUK passes Greenwich this afternoon ???? pic.twitter.com/Oyjy9J30Fc
— Greenwich West Policing Team (@MPSGreenwichWst) February 23, 2023
Stunned Thames-side office workers gawped as the NATO flagship, used to help detonate mines, passed by their windows.
One Twitter user wrote: “Sailed right past while I was sat working at my desk!”
It was built by the Norwegian Navy in the 1980s to defend its coast but was transferred to NATO last year.
The vessel is capable of 22 knots and carries an electronic warfare system, hull-mounted sonar and two navigational radars.
Historic Swedish trading vessel Götheborg passes under Tower Bridge
It is not to be confused with the World War II-era fishery protection vessel HNoMS Nordkapp, which was instrumental in Norway’s defence against the 1940 Nazi invasion.
Military vessels often stop off at London docks. On the same day, three other warships passed along the Thames and moored at the Royal Docks.
Those were the Danish Alta-class minesweeper KNM Otra M351, the Dutch Alkmaar-class minesweeper HNLMS Schiedam M860 and the German Frankenthal class mine hunter FGS Rottweil M1061.
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