Declining one ship was part of a larger missed modernization. A Norwegian government willing to retain Nidaros in 1920 could also have ordered a modern pair to replace the Eidsvold class. Warship technology had changed greatly since the older ships were laid down in 1899 and would continue changing through the 1920s. Norway neither accepted Gorgon nor substantially modernized its existing heavy ships, leaving its strongest units to enter 1940 with decades of technological and maintenance debt.
Notable Point · 10:25-10:56
Norway's missed coastal-defence modernization
Accepting Nidaros could have been followed by a new pair of coastal-defence ships as rapid technological change made the Eidsvold class increasingly dated.