Danish navy SF300 vessel Støren (P555) getting under way

The Kingdom of Denmark now consists of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, and is situated between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, between Continental Europe and the Scandinavian Peninsula. No Dane lives more than 52 km from the sea. Each year more than 125,000 ships pass through the Danish straits.

There are records of a unified Danish navy from the late 14th century. Queen Margaret I, who founded the Kalmar Union (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney and parts of Finland and Germany) wanted a navy to defend the union against the Hanseatic League.

In the 15th century Danish trade patterns expanded and with it the need for protection of Danish maritime interests. King Hans is credited with establishing the Common Fleet in 1509. It was also during this period that dedicated naval bases and yards were founded. Both King Frederick II and King Christian IV continued the expansion of the navy.

General-admirallieutenant Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve was made the navy’s supreme commander in 1701. He brought a new professionalism to the service, and initiated the Søkadetakademie, the predecessor of the Royal Danish Naval Academy.

In 1814, Denmark and Norway became separate nations, after more than 300 years together; the Common Fleet was split into the Royal Danish Navy and the Royal Norwegian Navy.

Denmark joined NATO in 1949. Julian especially remembers close ties with the RDN and particularly Orlogskaptajn Tonny Larsen in the development of Perseus, a leading NATO world-wide naval computer system

Here’s a selection of photographs, both historical and contemporary, of the Royal Danish Navy:

			Orlogsflaget, the Naval Ensign. It is identical in design, but in a darker red than the swallow-tailed Dannebrog, the Danish national flag
			Cort Adler og Niels Juel led the Danish navy to a victory in the Battle of Køge Bay in 1667.
			A Lynx helicopter of the Danish Navy, with rescue swimmer. These are carried by the larger Danish ships and have been responsible for many lives saved. The Danes are no strangers to the fierce conditions to be found in sub-Arctic seas.
			The board, search and seizure team assigned to the Danish flexible support ship HDMS Absalon on a training exercise boarding the guided-missile cruiser USS Vela Gulf. The Vela Gulf is the flagship for Combined Task Force 151, a multi-national task force conducting counter-piracy operations to detect and deter piracy in and around the Gulf of Aden, Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
			Danish submarine Havmanden. During a patrol on 19 October 1914 it was fired upon by an unknown foreign submarine and narrowly escaped being hit by torpedoes.
			The Royal Danish Naval Academy in Copenhagen. It is the oldest existing officers’ academy in the world.
			Danish ice breakers Danbjørn and Thorbjørn at Frederikshavn port.
			In Copenhagen the Naval Museum houses many fine artefacts from the country's rich naval heritage. The museum collections illustrate the history of the Danish Fleet and one of the main attractions is a unique collection of model ships, which show the technical development from the 1600s until today.
			Peter Willemoes, age 17, commanded a floating battery during the Battle of Copenhagen, April 2, 1801. He had 129 men and 20 cannon under his command and fought with such gallantry that the English Admiral Horatio Nelson commended him to the Crown Prince Frederick after the battle, recommending that he be promoted to Admiral. To this the Danish prince answered: “If I were to reward all my men for their bravery, I would have a fleet of admirals”.

Links

RDN Official Page in English

Royal Danish Navy Organisational chart

Danish military history The Frigate Falster and Danish Frigate Design to 1746

The History of the Danish Navy

Books

Christian IV and His Navy: A Political and Administrative History of the Danish Navy 1596-1648 by Martin Bellamy Brill, 2006