The Danish Navy embraced the use of steam power before many other, larger navies, and although its role was mainly coastal defence, it did develop some interesting ship designs during the latter part of the nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century.
The wooden-hulled, steam-powered ship-of-the-line Dannebrog (seen on the left below) ...
... was converted into an ironclad frigate in 1864 and remained in commission until she was disposed of in 1896.
The steam-powered cruising sloop Fyen served in the Danish Navy from 1862 until 1906. She was the last big warship with sails built in the Royal Naval Dockyard, Copenhagen.
The following photograph shows two examples of early steam-powered warships. At the back is a very traditional-looking unarmoured, steam-powered frigate, whilst in front is the armoured turret ship Rolf Krake.
A combination of heavy guns and low freeboard became a common theme in the design of Danish warships, as the following models of the Helgoland ...
... Tordenskjold, ....
... and Iver Hvitfeldt show.
To protect her overseas territories and colonies, the Danish Navy also built cruisers such as the Valkyrien.
Coastal defence was, however, the Danish Navy's primary role, and led to the design of special coastal defence vessels including the Skjold, ...
... the three ships of the Herluf Trolle-class (Herluf Trolle, Olfert Fischer, and Peder Skram), ...
... and culminating in the Niels Juel.
The last of these was originally designed to carry two 30.5cm/12-inch guns in single gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure, but during construction her design was altered when it was decided that she would better serve the needs of the Navy as a training ship.
Minelaying was seen as an important part of coastal defence and the Danes built a number of specialist vessels to perform this task.
The latter vessel was the Lossen, which was taken into service with the Kriegsmarine after the siezure of the Danish Navy in August 1943.
Torpedo boats were also thought to have an important role to play in coastal defence, and the Danes built several classes of them ...
... as well as a number of small submarines.
BOB,
ReplyDeleteVery informative and interesting- I do like the Danish Transitional Ships and the Pre-Dreadnoughts. Certainly these model naval ships have been built by Master Craftsmen. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteThe models look even better in real life. I only wish that they weren’t in cabinets fitted with reflective glass. It makes it difficult to photograph them.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed with those pictures anyway. There are two vessels I am VERY tempted to build for one of my navies: 'Tordenskjold' (those ARE torpedo boats she is toting, yes?) and the 'Lossen', though I might not use it as a mine layer, but rather a merchant cruiser. A thought.
A very interesting posting - even more than your usual high standard!
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteCheers! The ‘Tordenskjold’ was an armoured torpedo ram, and besides her heavy gun and three torpedo tubes, she carried two 2nd-class torpedo boats.
The ‘Lossen’ certainly looks more like an armed merchant ship than a purpose-built warships. I cannot find out much about her origins, but I understand that she was seized and used by the Germans.
All the best,
Bob
Cool, you certainly see the modern lines emerging from the evolution
ReplyDeleteGeordie an Exiled FoG,
DeleteThat’s something that I hadn’t noticed until you pointed it out, but you are right, even down to the conversion of a steam-powered wooden ship into an early ironclad.
All the best,
Bob