17th Century Swedish Warship Vasa

Photo:  Source

This 17th Century Swedish wooden warship is on display at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

It sunk on its maiden voyage in 1628 and was raised in 1961 almost fully intact and the most well-preserved one of its kind.

It is a warship that was 69 meters long, over 50 meters tall with 64 cannons. It was to be the most powerful warship in the Baltic sea, but the master shipbuilder, Henrik Hybertsson, was ill when construction began and was not able to oversee the construction and with pressure from the King to finish and launch it was despite there were warning signs it was not ready.  

Instead of being the strongest warship in the world, which it may have been in the few minutes, with a gush of water through the open gun ports, it sank 1,300 meters after setting sail, perhaps making it the shortest maiden voyage.

For more information and pictures visit Vasa Museum website and Wikipedia.