Islands / Fredrikstad / Rauerkalven
Small islet right beside Rauer (Rauøy) at the outer edge of the archipelago north-west of Fredrikstad. Rauer is a military area with Rauøy fort, and five nature reserves were established on the island in 2010.
Rauerkalven is a small islet tucked in against Rauer (Rauøy), at the outer edge of the archipelago north-west of Fredrikstad. The large neighbour behind it is a military area holding one of the oldest coastal forts in the Oslofjord. "Kalven" means the calf, the small one alongside, and that is what this islet is: low ground in the lee of the mother island.
Check Naturbase. The boundaries and the rules are in Naturbase, and they are worth checking before you land anywhere outside the marked areas.
Private boat or kayak (Rauer itself is a military area, so check landing restrictions).
No scheduled boat comes here. You will have to find the nearest public quay yourself, and the rest is your own boat or a kayak. Check the wind and wave forecast before you set out; the open stretches in the outer fjord turn unpleasant in a fresh breeze.
The history here belongs to Rauer. The Norwegian armed forces began work on Rauøy fort in 1913 and bought the ground between 1916 and 1918. During the First World War the fort was built as neutrality defence with six guns, among them four 12 cm guns taken from the ironclad Kong Sverre. Through the 1930s it was heavily modernised with two 15 cm Bofors batteries with a range of 19,500 metres, plus anti-aircraft guns.
Late in the evening of 8 April 1940 the southern battery opened fire on the German cruiser Blücher as she came up the fjord, with a warning shot and then four rounds before the fog closed in. Two Norwegian soldiers were killed. During the occupation the Germans ran a naval artillery school on the island and held Soviet prisoners of war under harsh conditions; 381 were alive when the fort was liberated on 8 May 1945. The fort stayed in service until 1998-1999.
All of Rauer is still a military area and is used for military training. On 16 April 2010 five nature reserves were established on the island. The largest is Rauer nature reserve on the west side, at 994 dekar (99.4 hectares). Rauerkalven itself is an uninhabited islet.
Rauer is a military area with restrictions on landing, so check the current rules before you tie up at the island or at Rauerkalven. The five nature reserves from 2010 may carry access rules of their own, so look up the individual regulation in Naturbase, the national map of protected areas, before moving through the area, particularly in the breeding season. Protection on Rauerkalven itself has not been verified in this round. No scheduled ferry is known.
The guns that watched this approach from 1913 came off a decommissioned ironclad. Four 12 cm barrels from Kong Sverre got a second life on the rock.
Blücher passed Rauøy fort in the night of 9 April 1940 and took four rounds before the fog hid her. A few hours later the cruiser was sunk further up the fjord, at Oscarsborg.
Oslo Sea Experience passes Rauerkalven on its private fjord trips from Tjuvholmen.
The Norwegian version notes which facts were taken from each source: Rauerkalven på norsk.