HNoMS Horten (A530)

HNoMS Horten (A530) was a Norwegian support vessel built at Karljohansvern in Horten, the city from which the ship was named, in 1977. She was in service with the Royal Norwegian Navy until her retirement in 2008 and filled a number of roles while in service.

History
Horten was originally designed as a support craft for submarines and fast attack craft. After a change in the design which shortened the vessel and gave her smaller torpedo stores than originally intended, this role was reduced. Rather than supplying smaller ships with ordnance, Horten functioned primarily as support craft with regards to food, fuel and water – in some cases, the on-board facilities were also placed at the disposal of crews from smaller ships. Horten was known as a spacious vessel – privates had four-man cabins, leading privates had two-man cabins and some petty officers had single cabins. Commissioned officers had cabins of a high standard and the captain a large, separate cabin with top facilities. There were also guest quarters for high-ranking officers on the same deck as the captain's quarters. The officers also had a separate mess hall with a bar. During naval exercises (e.g. Joint Winter and Blue Game ) in the early 2000s (decade), the ship functioned as command vessel for NATO officers who were responsible for overseeing the exercise. At the time, the reason was partly said to be the ship's facilities.

In 1985, the ship served as royal yacht for king Olav V whilst the royal yacht HNoMY Norge was repaired after a fire in the winter that year. Part of the reason for this choice was the ship's excellent facilities (see above).

In the 1986–89 period, Horten was laid up. When returning to service in 1989, she was turned into a school ship in the School squadron along with HNoMS Hessa and HNoMS Vigra. The facilities on board and the size of the vessel ensured that academy cadets could get experience with navigation and command in addition to normal schooling. The ship continued to function in this role intermittently throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s (decade), as well as serving as support vessel.

During 2005–08, Horten primarily functioned as living commodities and training centre for the crews of the new Nansen class frigates. The schematics of the ship resembled the new frigates and she was therefore seen as a good choice for the task. She had already served as training ship in 2001, after the Trondheim was being repaired for a boiler failure.

Horten was decommissioned in 2008, after many years of discussion and postponement due to the lack of a suitable replacement. The sale of the ship turned out to be a lengthy and difficult process, as the Ministry of Defence wanted to sell her along with retired (albeit still armed) fast patrol boats. After several failed attempts to complete a sale, it was eventually reported in 2012 that the ships had been sold to an undisclosed buyer in England.