The sailing Swedish warship Vasa (or "Wasa") was built 1626-1628. But after being completed, it sank after sailing about 1,300 meters (1,400 yd) into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. It was "top heavy" and had insufficient ballast. She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century.
Located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping lane just outside the Stockholm harbor, she was salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961. She was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet ("The Wasa Shipyard") until 1987 and then moved to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. The ship is one of Sweden's most popular tourist attractions and has been seen by over 29 million visitors since 1961.
Photo's: Maarten Meuldijk (C) Copyright IPMS Nederland
Museum exhibit in Stockholm
Revell has a 1/150 plastic model of the Wasa (kit 05414)