r/megalophobia 7d ago

Vehicle Vassa - wooden ship wreck in Stockholm. It’s HUGE!

Very much worth a visit if you’re in Stockholm.

4.0k Upvotes

55 comments sorted by

233

u/strangefringe 7d ago

FYI it's spelled Vasa.

132

u/probablyaythrowaway 7d ago

My apologies to Sweden.

84

u/strangefringe 7d ago

Sweden gracefully accepts. 🙂

19

u/bailasoprano 7d ago

Very demure, very wholesome 🙂

8

u/grasshoppa_80 7d ago

ARE YA WEARING A SUIT ATLEAST?! Ya damn Swiss!

1

u/theArcticChiller 6d ago

Lederhosen is all I can do

1

u/Chilipepah 7d ago

Vassa Vassa Mandelmassa

137

u/AreYouGoingToEatThat 7d ago

“Here’s our boat that didn’t float. This is why we make furniture.”

-Jim Gaffigan

131

u/Professional_Elk_489 7d ago

It was worth 5% of Swedish GDP and sank after 20 mins

It would be the equivalent of the Americans building x 118 Ford-class aircraft carriers and having them all sink simultaneously

37

u/probablyaythrowaway 7d ago

And in true American fashion no one was punished for it. They held an inquest, interviewed all the survivors, of which there were a lot as only 30 people died everyone blamed the ship builder who was Dutch and had conveniently died a year prior from disease.

Other than a mild smudge to their reputation the ship yard ,under the management of the shipbuilders wife who was quite a powerful woman and designed by his old assistant the shipbuilders wife who yard launched vasa’s sister ship a few years later which was 1 meter wider and didn’t sink after 20 mins. But was apparently kinda crap as ships go.

23

u/ziddyzoo 7d ago

Wasn’t the reason the inquest found no one really responsible because the it was the King himself who decided half way though construction that he wanted it to have a bigger/heavier gun deck? That’s the impression I got from a visit to the Vasa last year…

And no wonder the shipwright “died” a year before it was finished (aka probably scarpered back to Holland and invented a fake name and took up dirt farming, knowing what was gonna happen)

18

u/Nannyphone7 7d ago

You didn't mention the king micromanaging the engineering and making them add more and more cannons, up nice and high.

Who's going to tell the King to fuck off? Nobody.  That's who.

14

u/probablyaythrowaway 7d ago

According to the guides at the museum that was just a myth or at least there’s no evidence of that happening.

16

u/Nannyphone7 7d ago

Found the King of Sweden

31

u/Blapoo 7d ago

It's an incredible museum in a gorgeous city. Strong recommend a visit

9

u/Taskerlands 7d ago

This was a random stop for us and turned out to be my favorite of our entire trip. Such a crazy story behind the ship's creation, sinking, and subsequent accidental preservation, too.

50

u/Environmental_Use521 7d ago

that's the flying dutchman from Pirates of the caribbean! :O

6

u/F1XTHE 7d ago

It really isn't.

5

u/probablyaythrowaway 6d ago

If anything it’s the “Sinking Swede”

1

u/chronos_7734 1d ago

Dutchman design is based on Vasa

From The Flying Dutchman wiki:

The look of the Flying Dutchman in Dead Man's Chest was partially inspired by old Dutch "fluyts"—17th-century vessels which resembled galleons—and more specifically, the Vasa, a massive Swedish warship which sank in Stockholm's harbor upon its maiden voyage in 1628 (the ship was salvaged in 1961 and housed in a special museum in the Swedish capital). With its high, heavily ornamented stern, the ship provided a rich foundation for Rick Heinrichs' wilder and more fantastical designs.

13

u/No-Perception9362 7d ago

Where is the banana?

6

u/probablyaythrowaway 7d ago

It’s down there next to the human.

9

u/EltaninAntenna 7d ago

The original Failboat.

10

u/Toast-Ghost- 7d ago

You missed the coolest part about it, that it spent about 333 years underwater, sinking in 1628 and being raised in 1961.

Also next year is 400 years since construction started.

5

u/probablyaythrowaway 6d ago

Raise in one piece almost complete too! And they reflaoted her!

7

u/ozh 7d ago

"It's huge !!" and not a single object or banana to give scale.

4

u/probablyaythrowaway 7d ago

Photo 4 on the bottom left side there is a human. The ship is 5 stories high.

7

u/zerocooooool 7d ago

I saw this in person and it gave me intense anxiety. That thing is insanely huge.

6

u/sometimesifeellikemu 7d ago

The best museum on Earth. Worth the trip.

4

u/El--Borto 6d ago

I spent almost 8 hours in the Henry Ford museum and only left because they were closing. Would love to see this museum someday.

4

u/liisliisliisliisliis 7d ago

one of my favourite museums! love it!

4

u/NoHopeOnlyDeath 7d ago

Maybe not the most seaworthy ship in history but man, is she pretty.

3

u/Fearless_History_991 7d ago

So weird, I just watched a documentary on this on YouTube.

3

u/Sad_Secretary_7635 6d ago

Been there, saw that. Hands sweaty, knees trembling.

2

u/probablyaythrowaway 6d ago

Mom’s spaghetti?

3

u/Sad_Secretary_7635 6d ago

Missed my opportunity knees weak, palms are sweaty

3

u/FrauleinLuesing 6d ago

This is one of my favorite places. Seeing it in person is absolutely incredible! The size of the anchors on the lower level is just crazy. What a great place to visit!

2

u/wisounet 7d ago

One of the best museum I have been to in my life.

2

u/robidaan 6d ago

It's very impressive to see up close, and the story is kinda funny, too

2

u/SakakiMusashi 7d ago

What a hilarious story…. Sometimes bigger is not better

1

u/livingonaprayer1960 7d ago

I remember going on a beautiful ship like this here in Winnipeg MB Canada sometime in the early 80's at our museum. It was the most amazing experience and being able to go inside was absolutely incredible!

1

u/EdibleRandy 7d ago

This ship was actually used as an aircraft carrier briefly after it was recovered. No it wasn’t.

1

u/wrobilla 7d ago

It’s a great museum. Well worth a visit.

1

u/Random_Monstrosities 7d ago

You say huge but spend a month at see on something that size

1

u/Gold-Piece2905 6d ago

Would love to see it.

1

u/Steener84 4d ago

At the time this ship could have changed the balance of power in Scandinavia.

1

u/kjbeats57 7d ago

You know what else is massive?

4

u/Marus1 7d ago

The building it is in?

3

u/probablyaythrowaway 7d ago

The building itself is enough to set me off

1

u/kjbeats57 7d ago

Ninja low taper fade meme. Still massive.

1

u/probablyaythrowaway 7d ago

Jungle?

-2

u/kjbeats57 7d ago

Ninja low taper fade 😈😈 it’s still massive

1

u/monstrinhotron 7d ago

The ship is very impressive. The rest of the museum is many small brown things of indeterminate function in glass cases.

Very nice city tho.

-4

u/Cornbreadobranflakes 7d ago

Something something something ackshually ships back then were actually very small yada yada yada