A development of Dristigheten, the Äran class mounted the same 21 cm (8 in) main guns, but differed in the layout of the secondary armament.

During the two decades following the conflict, the ship undertook a number of international tours that called at ports in Britain, the Netherlands and Spain.

Manligheten ran aground in 1930 and was freed by an ingenious manoeuvre by the destroyer Wachtmeister, which created waves by speeding past the stranded vessel.

A full load of 300 long tons (300 t) of coal was carried, which gave a design range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

[7][6] Armament consisted of two single Bofors 21 cm (8.3 in) guns mounted in turrets on the ship's centreline, one fore and the other aft.

Each of the guns weighed 10.9 tonnes (10.73 long tons) and could fire a 125 kg (276 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 750 m/s (2,500 ft/s).

The vessel was the second to be named Manligheten, meaning masculinity, the first being a ship of the line constructed by the same shipyard and retired in 1864.

[11] During the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905, the ship served as part of the First Armoured Division under Admiral Wilhelm Dyrssen.

During the next year, the vessel revisited Plymouth, sailed on to Bilbao and San Sebastian, before returning to the Netherlands for a stop at Rotterdam.

However, the destroyer Wachtmeister, by sailing past at full speed over and over again, succeeded in freeing the battleship using successive bow waves.

[16] During the following October, the ship became the flagship of the reformed Gothenburg Squadron and remained in the role at the start of the Second World War.

[10] Manligheten underwent a refit on 26 August 1939, at which it was discovered that the main armament, boilers, engines and electrical equipment had all deteriorated.