Sørlandet

Type

Full-Rigged Ship

Period

20th Century

Nation

Norway

Overview: Sørlandet is a Norwegian full-rigged sail training ship, one of the "Great Trio of Norway" tall ships alongside Statsraad Lehmkuhl and Christian Radich. She is widely cited as the oldest full-rigged ship in the world still in active operation, making her a distinctive and historically important subject for modelers of 20th-century square-riggers. Specifications: Built with a steel hull, she has a gross tonnage of about 499 tons and a displacement of roughly 891 tons. Her sparred length is about 64.15 m, beam 9 m, height 34.2 m, and draft 4.5 m; she was originally built without an engine, with propulsion added later. Service History: Completed in 1927 at Høivolds Mekaniske Verksted in Kristiansand, funded by a grant from shipowner O.A.T. Skjelbred to establish a sailing school ship. On her maiden voyage to Oslo in 1927 she was inspected by King Haakon VII and Crown Prince Olav, and later that year she carried 90 trainees to London. She represented Norway at the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago as the first Norwegian schoolship to cross the Atlantic, took part in the first Tall Ships Race in 1956, and returned to the U.S. for the 1986 Statue of Liberty centennial; an engine and propeller were fitted in 1958. Notable Facts: Sørlandet has operated continuously as a sail training vessel for youth for decades and was reportedly the first tall ship to offer sail training for women, in 1981. Ownership passed to a non-profit foundation (from the 1970s/1981 onward, depending on source), which continues to run her as an ocean-going training ship and floating classroom, including transatlantic voyages to the Caribbean since 1995.