by Eric Nielsen
This period of the Danish navy’s technological transformation occurred over a period of forty years, from 1824 to 1863. All of the Danish navy’s international procurement of these advanced naval technologies were acquired exclusively from Britain, with the exception of one marine engine acquired from Sweden.
Danish Warship Procurement and International Technology Transfer
Britain’s confiscation of Denmark’s entire fleet in 1807; Denmark’s resultant 1807-1814 war with Britain, which caused Denmark’s national bankruptcy; and the Danish kingdom’s partition and loss of Norway in 1815, left Denmark economically shattered and exhausted, and faced, among other things, with the imposing task of rebuilding her fleet.
Denmark’s national catastrophes in 1807-1815 coincidentally coincided with the industrial revolution, including the advent of steam technology for steamship propulsion, and the increased use of iron in shipbuilding. Unfortunately, Denmark lacked economic resources to engage in costly “research and development” regarding these technological developments herself, or the indigenous technological means to reconstitute the Danish fleet in the steamship age.
The most economical way for Denmark to acquire advanced steamship technologies for the Danish navy was to obtain it abroad, either from foreign commercial shipbuilders, or from hiring foreign experts. Denmark did both.
Denmark naturally sought marine steam engine and iron shipbuilding technologies from its close neighbor, England, a world leader in both of these technical areas. This procurement process began with the Danish navy’s purchase of its first steamship from England in 1824, and continued for several decades thereafter. All of the steamships and marine steam engines which the Danish navy contracted to acquire abroad during this period were procured exclusively from British marine engine manufacturing firms and commercial shipbuilders.
William Wain, the Danish Navy’s First “Master Engineer.”
Denmark’s procurement of early steamship technology from foreign sources culminated with the Danish navy’s hiring of a foreign expert, an English marine engineer, William Wain, to be the Danish naval shipyard’s first “Master Engineer.” Why purchase foreign technology when one can purchase foreign brains that produce the technology?
William Wain later left the Danish navy to become a principal in the famous Danish commercial shipbuilding firm of Burmeister & Wain, formerly known Baumgarten and Burmeister, both of which firms frequently supplied marine engines for the Danish navy’s warships.
Mentioning, at this juncture, William Wain’s appointment as the Danish navy’s first “Master Engineer,” is done for convenience in connection with this article’s introductory comments regarding Danish warship procurement and international technology transfer, including the hiring of foreign technology experts. But that is getting ahead of the story. We will now start at the beginning, with the Danish navy’s acquisition of its first steamer in 1824.
The Danish Navy’s Paddle-Wheel Steamers
In 1824, the Danish navy acquired its first steamship which, in this first instance of Danish naval procurement of advanced steamship technology from a foreign source, was purchased in Britain. Britain was then a world leader in steam technology, with the United States and France as close competitors.
Denmark’s first steamship acquisition, from Britain, was the paddle-wheeler – or side-wheeler – KIEL, which arrived in Copenhagen on July 9, 1824. KIEL’s steam engine delivered a mere 40 horsepower. KIEL was small, unarmed, and was utilized as a royal yacht for the Danish monarchy.
The Danish Navy’s Paddle-Wheel Steamers
In 1824, the Danish navy acquired its first steamship which, in this first instance of Danish naval procurement of advanced steamship technology from a foreign source, was purchased in Britain. Britain was then a world leader in steam technology, with the United States and France as close competitors.
Denmark’s first steamship acquisition, from Britain, was the paddle-wheeler – or side-wheeler – KIEL, which arrived in Copenhagen on July 9, 1824. KIEL’s steam engine delivered a mere 40 horsepower. KIEL was small, unarmed, and was utilized as a royal yacht for the Danish monarchy.
Seventeen years after the KIEL’s acquisition, the Danish navy procured two more paddle-wheel steamships, ÆGIR and HECKLA, both of which, like the KIEL, were built in England.
ÆGIR, built of iron, arrived in Copenhagen on October 12, 1841. ÆGIR’s steam engine produced 80 horsepower, double that of the KIEL’s. The HECKLA, built in Middlesex, England, by Carling Young & Company, arrived in Copenhagen on May 10, 1842.
HECKLA’s steam engine produced 200 horsepower, a major power leap over the ÆGIR’s engine, and ÆGIR had arrived in Copenhagen only a year earlier.
It 1844, three years after the HECKLA arrived in Copenhagen from England, the first paddle-wheel steamship, GEJSER, was domestically built in Denmark at Nyholm, the Danish navy’s main shipyard, in Copenhagen.
GEJSER was designed by the Danish naval architect Andreas Schifter, who was the Danish navy’s “Master Shipbuilder” from 1814 to 1846. It’s a tribute to Schifter, who had spent most of his naval career building traditional all-sail warships, that he possessed sufficient professional knowledge and skill to adopt himself to the rapid technological developments taking place in shipbuilding, and was able to design from scratch an entirely innovative new hull form to accommodate the new marine steam engines.
While the Danish navy designed and built GEJSER domestically, this technological advance was less than may appear. Though the GEJSER’s hull was designed and built in Denmark, its engine was not. GEJSER’s engine was, once again, designed and manufactured in England, by the firm of Maudslay Sons & Field – the first of many marine engines the Danish navy was to acquire from this firm over the next two decades. Furthermore, the GEJSER’s engine only produced 160 horsepower, or 20% less power than generated by the engine of the English-built HECKLA, GEJSER’s immediate predecessor.
The Danish navy’s next steam-powered paddle-wheelers were (1) the SKIRNER, of 1847, designed and built under the direction of Andreas Schifter, the Danish navy’s Master Shipbuilder, with a modest 120 horsepower engine; and (2) the HOLGER DANSKE of 1849, whose engine was, again, manufactured by the British firm of Maudslay Sons & Field. However, this latest steam engine produced 250 horsepower, then unprecedented for a Danish navy warship.
The final Danish paddle-wheeler that will be mentioned here is the SLESVIG, originally built abroad, of iron, in 1845, and acquired by the Danish royal family in 1849 for use as a royal yacht. The SLESVIG’s engines produced 500 horsepower, yet another advance in engine power, but her engine power is not the only factor for which the SLESVIG deserves historical note.
What is really noteworthy about the SLESVIG is that it was built by the Scottish firm of R. Napier (later, R. Napier & Sons), of Glasgow, on the River Clyde – i.e., the same firm which later built the Danish navy’s first all-iron, screw-propelled, turret warship, the ROLF KRAKE. However, it’s not known if the Danish royal family’s use of a Napier-built iron vessel as the Danish monarchy’s royal yacht subsequently influenced Denmark’s choice of the Napier firm as the contractor to build the ROLF KRAKE for the Danish navy.
Paddle-Wheelers’ Limitations as Warships
In historical retrospect, paddle-wheel steamships were the first technological form of steam propulsion in the evolution of steam-propelled warships. However, paddle-wheelers were short-lived in the warship role, losing favor for warship employment with the advent of the screw-propeller as an alternate means of propulsion.
Paddle-wheelers were unsuitable as warships because their paddle wheels were fragile, exposed, and very conspicuous pieces of a warship’s vital machinery, which correspondingly offered a large target and were, therefore, extremely vulnerable to an enemy’s gunfire.
Another aspect of a paddel-wheeler’s combat vulnerability was that a paddle-wheel steamship could be steered by manipulating the operation of its paddle-wheels, so that combat damage to one or both of these paddle-wheels could be lethal, causing the steamship to lose control of its maneuverability, or having its maneuverability completely crippled – in this regard, one is reminded of the example of the German battleship BISMARCK in 1941, when her rudders and maneuverability were crippled by combat damage, sealing her fate.
Notwithstanding their vulnerability to lethal combat damage, paddle-wheel war steamers had wartime utility to a navy which was largely dependent on all-sail warships. In Denmark’s first “Slesvig” war, Danish paddle-wheel war steamers were successfully utilized as tugboats for the Danish navy’s sail warships. As noted earlier, the Danish navy’s paddle-wheel steamers also served in the role of royal yachts for the Danish monarchy.
In retrospect, it was not the limitations of the paddle-wheel per se which ultimately caused the demise of the paddle-wheeler in the warship role, but the advent of a superior technology, the screw propeller.
The Danish Navy’s Screw-Propeller, Wooden-Hulled, War Steamers
The next quantum step in the Danish navy’s employment of steam propulsion in its warships came with the introduction of the “screw” propeller, in place of the more unwieldy and vulnerable paddle-wheel, as the means of Danish warship propulsion. This development resulted in the building of a series of wooden-hulled, screw-propeller driven Danish war steamers that were either originally purpose-built with steam engines, or were converted to steam propulsion after being initially built as exclusively sail powered warships.
All of Denmark’s wooden, screw-propeller warships were also ship-rigged and equipped with sails, and thus retained the appearance of traditional wooden ships of war during the age of sail, with the exception of the presence of a funnel protruding from their open upper deck.
The screw-corvette THOR (1851) was the first of three similarly-sized screw-corvettes that ultimately included HEIMDAL (1856) and DAGMAR (1861), all built in the Danish navy’s shipyard in Copenhagen. These screw corvettes’ engines produced 650, 600, and 500 horsepower; and 9, 9.5, and 9.5 knots, respectively. Thus, as these corvettes’ engines progressively decreased in horsepower, while the corvettes each simultaneously increased modestly in size, their speed increased and then balanced off, probably indicating increased efficiency in the engines themselves, in terms of the amount of knots produced per unit of horsepower.
The engines for Denmark’s first two wooden-hulled, screw-corvettes, THOR (1851) and HEIMDAL (1856), were manufactured by the British firm of Maudslay Sons & Fields, which had previously supplied engines for the Danish navy’s paddle-wheelers. However, the DAGMAR’s engines were manufactured by the Danish firm of Baumgarten & Burmeister.
Chronologically, Denmark’s screw-corvette THOR (1851) was followed by Denmark’s first wooden hulled screw-frigate, the NIELS IUEL (1855), designed and built by the Danish naval architect, and the Danish navy’s most recent “Master Builder,” Otto Frederik Suenson, who served as the Danish navy’s Master Builder from 1846 to 1864. The NIELS IUEL’s marine engine was also supplied by the British firm of Maudslay Sons & Fields, demonstrating that the Danish navy continued to be dependent upon a foreign source for the Danish navy’s marine engines. The NIELS IUEL’s 900 horsepower engines produced a speed of 9.5 knots.
The NIELS IUEL was the first of three near-sisterships designed by O. F. Suenson, having modest differences in dimensions, that culminated in Denmark’s most famous warship, the JYLLAND (1860), built in the Danish navy’s Nyholm shipyard. JYLLAND took part in the celebrated battle of Helgoland in 1864, the last combat between wooden warships. JYLLAND survives today as a museum ship in Ebeltoft, Denmark.
The second sister-ship of Denmark’s series of thee wooden hulled, screw corvettes, was the SJÆLLAND (1858). SJÆLLAND’S engine, like the NIELS IUEL’s, was manufactured by Maudslay Sons & Field, and produced 1,000 horsepower. However, the frigate JYLLAND’s engine was built by the Danish firm of Baumgarten & Burmeister, and JYLLAND’s domestically-produced marine engine generated the most horsepower of Denmark’s three screw-frigates, i.e., 1,300 horsepower!
The other conversion was the frigate TORDENSKJOLD, originally completed as a conventional, all-sail frigate in 1852, and rebuilt and converted to steam power and screw-propeller propulsion in 1861-1862, with a steam engine that produced 700 horsepower and a very modest speed of 8 knots. TORDENSKJOLD’s steam engine was manufactured by the Motala Works in Sweden.
Denmark’s fleet of wooden-hulled, screw-propeller warships included a number of smaller warships. However, the focus here is on Denmark’s importation and development of marine technologies for the Danish navy, and this evolution is best illustrated by Denmark’s principal warship types. However, it is important to note that in this evolving process of the Danish navy’s use of steam engines, the Danish navy did not neglect its smaller naval vessels.
The screw-corvette DAGMAR (1861), completed after the famous screw-frigate JYLLAND (1860), is the last of the principal Danish-built, wooden-hulled, screw-frigates.
Both the JYLLAND and the DAGMAR, being the final and presumably best examples of their respective warship types, were both engined with domestically-manufactured Danish steam engines, manufactured by the Danish firm of Baumgarten and Burmeister. Thus, ironically, just as Denmark had finally fully domesticated the design and building of both the hulls and engines of the Danish navy’s screw-driven wooden warships, a new evolution in naval shipbuilding occurred – i.e., the use of iron armor to clad warships for defensive protection – which compelled Denmark to once again embark on a program of contracting with foreign firms to acquire this new technology.
Denmark’s “Broadside Ironclads.”
The next major step in the technological evolution of developing Denmark’s steam-propelled warships consisted of the coating, or sheathing, of the wood hulls of some existing or newly-built Danish wooden warships with iron plating above the warship’s waterline, for defensive protection against enemy shellfire.
In the Danish navy, this evolutionary, interim category of iron-armored, wooden-hulled, steam propelled, screw warships, were not classified as “broadside ironclads,” which was a retrospective, international, historical classificatory term. In the Danish navy, these ships were officially classified as “panserfregatten,” or “armored frigates.”
Aside from their iron armor plating, the reason this interim type of warship subsequently became known as “broadside ironclads” was because these warships retained the traditional broadside-mounted armament of earlier warships during the age of sail.
Denmark’s “broadside ironclads” manifest the fact that the technological advances in applying steam technology to propel warships, and iron metallurgy and plating to armor warship’s above-water wooden hulls, had not yet been matched by similar contemporaneous technological developments in the ballistic performance and capabilities of naval artillery, including its projectiles, which remained smoothbore, muzzle loading, broadside mounted, and firing predominately solid shot, as in the guns which armed Denmark’s “broadside ironclads.”
Denmark’s next two broadside ironclads were purpose-built. Thus, the converted DANNEBROG was followed in 1864 by the Danish-built PEDER SKRAM, which displaced 3,330 tons, the sides of which were clad in 4½” iron plate when she was originally built at the Danish navy’s Nyholm shipyard. The last of Denmark’s “broadside ironclad” trio was the 4,670 ton DANMARK, the largest of the three, built by the Thompson firm in Glasgow, Scotland and launched in 1864. DANMARK’s wooden hull was clad, like the PEDER SKRAM, with 4½” iron plate.
Curiously, the DANMARK had originally been ordered from her Scottish builders by the Confederate States of America (CSA), during the United State’s Civil War. However, the CSA never took possession of her, and she thus became available for sale to another purchaser. In this situation, DANMARK may have been hastily acquired on an emergency basis by Denmark during the war scare over the Duchies of Slesvig and Holstein. However, in terms of international technology transfer in the context of Denmark’s warship procurement policy, the DANMARK was presumably built to the CSA’s contract specifications, rather than to Denmark’s.
Compared to Denmark’s foregoing 3,057 ton, 3,330 ton and 4,670 ton “broadside ironclad” behemoths, the diminutive ROLF KRAKE, built in 1862-1863, displaced a mere 1,360 tons.
The steam engines of the DANNEBROG, PEDER SKRAM, and DANMARK, produced 1,150, 1680, and 1,000 horsepower respectively, to drive their screw-propellers. Thus, the DANMARK, by far the largest of the three, had the weakest engine, and, at 8.5 knots, DANMARK was the slowest of Denmark’s three broadside ironclads. By comparison, the DANNEBROG’s speed was only marginally better at 9 knots. The Danish-built PEDER SKRAM reached a more satisfactory 11.5 knots.
As an all-round warship, the Danish-built PEDER SKRAM seems to have been the best balanced in desirable warship attributes and performance and, therefore, was the most successful warship of Denmark’s three broadside ironclads.
Denmark’s trio of broadside ironclads, like all warships in this transitory period from all-wood, all sail, to all-iron, all-steam warships, were rigged with masts and sails. Each of these Danish broadside ironclads carried three masts, complete with spars for square-sails. The generic concern here, as in all navies with their early steam-powered warships, pertained to the reliability of the early marine steam engines, and the fact that without the availability of auxiliary sail power, a warship could become completely immobilized if its steam engine completely broke down – as under the stress of combat.
Armored Battery (Panserbatteriet) Ship ROLF KRAKE
Denmark’s next quantum progression, and a symbolic point in both the Danish navy’s acquisition of advanced naval shipbuilding technology from a foreign source, and in Danish warship design, occurred when Denmark’s arranging to have the Danish navy’s first all-iron, gun turret warship to be “contract built” abroad, by a private shipyard that possessed experience in constructing armored warships. Thus the ROLF KRAKE was contract built by the Scottish firm of R. Napier & Sons in Glasgow, Scotland, from 1862-1863.
The Napier shipbuilding firm had coincidentally been the builder of the iron-hulled Danish royal yacht SLESVIG, which was acquired as the Danish monarchy’s royal yacht in 1849. It’s not known whether the fact that the Danish royal yacht had been built by the Napier firm had any influence on Denmark’s decision to contract with R. Napier and Sons to build the ROLF KRAKE.
ROLF KRAKE’s coal-fired steam engine produced 700 horsepower, providing a maximum speed of 9½ knots. Since Robert Napier had been building marine steam engines for over thirty years at the time ROLF KRAKE was ordered, the Napier firm presumably built the ROLF KRAKE’s marine engine.
The ROLF KRAKE’s most notable and historically significant design feature were the two rotating circular gun turrets to house her main armament of 4-68 pdr., 8″ smoothbore cannon.
At the time the building of ROLF KRAKE was ordered, the Danes had already taken steps to acquire their first “broadside ironclad” over a year earlier, in May of 1862, when the all-sail, wooden Danish battleship DANNEBROG was placed in dock for conversion. Therefore, as a matter of Danish warship procurement policy, the Danish navy’s primary interest in ordering the ROLF KRAKE from her Scottish builder seems to have been in acquiring experience with the patented “Cole” gun turret technology.
When the Danish navy acquired the ROLF KRAKE, the Danish navy officially classified her as an “armored ship,” or a “panserbatteriet,” which classification, combined with the ROLF KRAKE’s shallow draft of 10′ 6″, indicates the Danish navy viewed the ROLF KRAKE as a “monitor” type vessel to be used primarily in a coast defense role. In fact, during the German War of 1864, the ROLF KRAKE was in fact employed in a shore bombardment, coast defense role.
The ROLF KRAKE presumably served as a prototype in the Danish navy’s evolution of further low-freeboard “turret ships,” such as the LINDORMEN, built in Copenhagen in 1868, five years after the ROLF KRAKE, and the GORM, built at the Danish navy’s shipyard two years later, in 1870.
Denmark’s acquisition of the ROLF KRAKE, from a Scottish shipbuilder and marine engine manufacturer, brought to a close the early cycle of the Danish navy’s procurement of advanced steamship and iron warship building technology from abroad, by means of the international technology transfer to Denmark from foreign sources.
Danish Navy’s Coast Defense Role
The Danish navy’s acquisition of the ROLF KRAKE symbolizes more than just the Danish navy’s acquisition of its first all-iron, screw-driven, turret warship. The ROLF KRAKE also symbolizes the beginning of an entirely new era in the Danish navy’s defense role, when Danish naval construction policy began to concentrate on producing ships, including coastal “artillery” monitors, capable of providing “close in” coast defense rather than in engaging in deep water cruising.
List of Warship Specifications
The following list of Danish naval steamships is not exhaustive, but only includes the principal vessels, to illustrate either Denmark’s acquisition of advanced steamship technology abroad, or Denmark’s own early domestic advances in producing steamship technology herself.
Not all the Danish navy’s paddle-wheel steamers, nor all of the Danish navy’s screw-propelled wooden naval vessels are listed below. However, all three of Denmark’s “broadside ironclads” are listed.
The following warship list concludes with the ROLF KRAKE, Denmark’s first all-iron, screw-driven, steamship, housing her armament in technologically revolutionary, revolving gun turrets. ROLF KRAKE is thus the first representative of an entirely new era in the Danish navy’s technological development, as well as in acquiring innovative coastal warship types.
When available, a warship’s displacement is given in “tons.” However, sometimes figures for displacement in tons is not available, and “læsts” are used instead. A “læst” is an old Scandinavian unit of measure of weight or bulk. This old Scandinavian measure was of differing value at different times and in different locales.
Denmark’s Naval Paddle-Wheel Steamers
| Name: | KIEL |
| Date: | 1824 |
| Engine: | 40 horsepower |
| Dimensions: | Length – 86′ 3″ Beam – 10′ 10″ Depth – 5′ ½” (forward), 4′ 5½” (aft) |
| Capacity: | 80¼ Læsts |
| Armament: | Unarmed |
| Notes: | Marine engine and hull built in England. This relatively small vessel served as a royal yacht for the Danish monarchy, and in auxiliary capacities. She was out of Danish naval service by 1852.Explanation of Ship Name Kiel was the major seaport in the old, German-speaking Duchy of Holstein, with the Danish king as Duke. Historically, Holstein had been united with the geographically-adjacent, Danish-speaking Duchy of Slesvig into the twin Duchy of Slesvig-Holstein, with the Danish monarch as both Duke and King of the Duchy of Slesvig. Thus, the twin Duchies had a complicated political relationship with Denmark, which was compounded by language problems.At the time the KIEL was acquired by the Danish navy in 1824, the twin duchies’ relationship with Denmark was relatively good, and Denmark could honor the German-speaking Duchy of Holstein by naming a Danish naval vessel after Holstein’s principal seaport. |
| Name: | ÆGIR |
| Date: | 1841 |
| Engine: | 80 horsepower |
| Dimensions: | Length – 140′ 10″ Beam – 18′ 5½” Draft – 5′ 7″ (forward & aft) |
| Capacity: | 116 Læsts |
| Armament: | 2-24 pdr. cannon, 1-4 pdr. cannon; Later rearmed with 2-18 pdr. cannon, 8-1 pdr. falconetts |
| Notes: | Marine engine, and iron hull, built in England. Served as a royal yacht for the Danish monarchy. Sold, in 1872, to the firm of Petersen & Albeck.Explanation of Ship Name In Norse mythology, Ægir is a god of the seas and oceans and storms at sea, and is a member of the Vanir, a race of gods that preceded the Norse gods, but are interrelated with them. |
| Name: | HECKLA |
| Date: | 1842 |
| Engine: | 200 horsepower |
| Speed: | 9 knots |
| Dimensions: | Length – 159′ 4″ Beam – 27′ Draft – 10′ 6″ (forward), 11′ 4½” (aft) |
| Displacement: | 637 tons |
| Armament: | 2-60 pdr. “bomb” cannon, 4-24 pdr. cannon, 2-4 pdr. howitzers |
| Notes: | Built in England by Carling Young & Co. HECKLA participated in the Danish navy’s disastrous Battle of Eckernförde, on April 5, 1849, where the Danes lost the Danish battleship CHRISTIAN VIII and Danish frigate GEFION in unsuccessfully attempting to bombard a German coastal battery. In 1850 HECKLA sank the Schleswig-Holstein warship V.D. TANNOut of Danish naval service by 1882.Explanation of Ship Name Heckla is a volcano in Iceland, which, at the time HECKLA was built, was a dependency of Denmark. The name of a volcano is a particularly appropriate name for a coal-fired steamship which belches large volumes of smoke from its steam engines, and using the name of an Icelandic volcano is doubly symbolic for a Danish naval vessel, because of its association with Iceland. |
| Name: | GEJSER |
| Date: | 1844 |
| Engine: | 160 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Maudslay Sons & Field, England. |
| Speed: | 9 knots |
| Dimensions: | Length – 150′ Beam – 25′ 9″ Draft – 10′ 11″ |
| Displacement: | 550 tons |
| Armament: | 2-60 “bomb” or “Grenade” cannon; 6-18 pdr. cannon |
| Notes: | Hull built in Denmark, but fitted with an English marine engine. The first hull of a Danish steam warship designed by a Danish naval architect, Andreas Schifter, the Danish navy’s Master Shipbuilder from 1814 to 1846, and built in the Danish naval shipyard in Copenhagen. She was deleted from Danish naval service in 1891.The GEJSER participated in the disastrous Battle of Eckernfjord, on April 5, 1849, where the Danish navy lost the Danish battleship CHRISIAN VIII and the Danish frigate GEFION in unsuccessfully attempting to bombard German coastal batteries.In the 1849 action at Eckernförde, the GEJSER sought to act as a steam-engined tugboat by unsuccessfully attempting to tow the Danish sail frigate GEFION out of the confined waters of Eckernförde, against the prevailing wind. However, rebel German artillery scored not only a nearly miraculous hit which severed the GEJSER’s towline to the GEFION, but also other hits on the vulnerable GEJSER herself, forcing GEJSER to steam out of harm’s way.GEJSER was also active in the blockade of the German coast during the Slesvig-Holstein revolt of 1848-1850. On June 4, 1849, the GEJSER participated with other Danish warships – all of which were entirely sail-propelled – in pursuing three German steamships which were using their steam power in an attempt to elude the Danish navy’s blockade of the German coast. GEJSER apparently took the lead over her sailing-ship consorts in pursuing the German steamships.Explanation of Ship Name Gejser is Danish for “geyser,’ meaning a hot volcanic spring which periodically spews forth jets of hot steam and water. GEJSER is therefore an appropriate name for a coal-fired steamship which belches large volumes of smoke from its steam engines. Gejser, from the Icelandic term “geysir,” is also an appropriate name for a Danish steamship because, when GEJSER was built, Iceland was a dependency of Denmark. |
| Name: | SKIRNER |
| Date: | 1847 |
| Engine: | 120 horsepower |
| Dimensions: | Length – 139′ 4″ Beam – 22′ Draft – 8′ 3″ (fore and aft) |
| Capacity: | 198 51/100 Læsts |
| Armament: | 2-24 pdr. cannon, 4-4 pdr. howitzers |
| Notes: | Danish-built hull. Designed and built under the direction of Andreas Schifter, the Danish navy’s Master Shipbuilder from 1814 to 1846, and built at the Danish naval shipyard in Copenhagen. Sold, in 1872, to the firm of Petersen and Albeck.Explanation of Ship Name In Norse mythology, Skirner is the boyhood friend, trusted servant and messenger of Frey, the Norse god of weather and fertility. Frey gave Skirner Frey’s magical sword which, once given the order to engage in combat, had the ability of being able to fight on its own. Frey’s magical sword had been forged for Frey for the express purpose of doing battle for the Norse gods at the battle of Rognarok. |
| Name: | HOLGER DANSKE |
| Date: | 1849 |
| Engine: | 250 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Maudslay Sons & Field, of England. |
| Speed: | 9.3 knots |
| Dimensions: | Length – 170′ Beam – 28′ 6″ Draft – 12′ 2½” (forward), 13′ 1″ (aft) |
| Displacement: | 765 tons |
| Armament: | 1-60 pdr. “bomb” cannon, 6-30 pdr. cannon, 6-4 pdr. howitzers.” |
| Notes: | HOLGER DANSK was the largest of the Danish paddle-wheelers on the date she was aqcuired by the Danish navy. Sold, in 1876, to James Shaw in London.Explanation of Ship Name Holger Danske, or Holger the Dane, is Denmark’s national hero, a mythical, legendary Danish king who is the subject of an ancient chivalric ballad.In Danish folklore, Holger Danske slumbers in time of peace, but the moment Denmark is threatened, Holger Danske will spring to action, seize his weapons, and rush to Denmark’s defense.There is a large statute of Holger Danske in the dungeons below Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, depicting a slumbering Holger Danske, but don’t be fooled – Holger Danske only pretends to be asleep, as he is ever watchful for Denmark. |
| Name: | SLESVIG |
| Date: | 1849 |
| Engine: | 500 horsepower |
| Dimensions: | Length – 173′ Beam – 25′ Draft – 9′ (aft) |
| Displacement: | 740 tons |
| Armament: | 12-3 pdr. cannon |
| Notes: | Built of iron in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1845, as the commercial steamer COPENHAGEN. Employed commercially as a passenger ship on the route between Copenhagen and Kiel.In 1848, the ship was acquired by the Danish navy and her name was changed to SLESVIG. In 1856, SLESVIG was rebuilt as a royal yacht, and in this new guise was provided with a new figurehead.SLESVIG also saw service as a Danish postal steamer, but was never employed as a combat warship in the Danish navy. Slesvig was placed out of Danish service in 1893, and was broken up in 1894.The primary historical significance of the paddle-wheeler SLESVIG is that she was built by the Scottish firm of R. Napier & Sons in Glasgow, Scotland, i.e., the Scottish shipbuilding firm which later built the Danish navy’s first all-iron, screw- propeller, gun-turreted, “armored battery” war steamer ROLF KRAKE, in 1863.The SLESVIG’s figurehead still exists, and is on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station at Holmen.
Explanation of Ship Name The Danish King was both king and Duke of the Duchy of Slesvig, but only the Duke, but not the king, of the Duchy of Holstein, which was inhabited by a German-speaking population. Slesvig was lost to Danish dominion in the German War of 1864. However, after a plebiscite in 1920, Danish-speaking North Slesvig was at long last united with and incorporated into Denmark proper. |
Denmark’s Principal Screw-Propelled, Wooden, Unarmored Warships.
| Name: | THOR |
| Date: | 1851 |
| Engine: | 650 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Maudslay Sons & Field, of England. |
| Speed: | 9 knots |
| Warship Type: | Screw Corvette |
| Dimensions: | Length – 52 meters Beam – 9.4 meters Draft – 4.9 meters |
| Displacement: | 803 tons |
| Armament: | 14-30 pdrs. |
| Notes: | THOR was the first of a series of three wooden-hulled, screw-corvettes built for the Danish navy over a period of a decade, the other screw-corvettes being HEIMDAL (1856) and DAGMAR (1861). The dimensions of all three screw-corvettes were roughly similar.THOR, although built at the Danish navy’s shipyard at Holmen, in Copenhagen, was powered with a steam engine manufactured in England.THOR was present at the Battle of Rügen on March 17, 1864, when a Prussian naval squadron unsuccessfully attacked a Danish naval force in an attempt to break the Danish blockade of the German coast. Out of Danish naval service in 1885.THOR’s forceful and compelling figurehead still exists today, and is on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station at Holmen, in Copenhagen.Explanation of Ship Name In Norse mythology, Thor is a Norse god and the son of Odin. Thor is the strongest of all gods and men, is the god of thunder, and wields his mighty hammer Mjollnir, an awesome weapon. Thor was the foremost of the Norse gods to the common man, was the main god of the Vikings, and Thursday is named after him. Symbolically, Thor is a name which is particularly appropriate for a combat warship, rather than an auxiliary naval vessel. |
| Name: | NIELS JUEL |
| Date: | 1855 |
| Engine: | 900 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Maudslay Son & Field, of England. |
| Speed: | 9.3 knots |
| Warship Type: | Screw Frigate |
| Dimensions: | Length – 62.5 meters Beam – 13.2 meters Draft – 6 meters (aft) |
| Displacement: | 1.935 tons |
| Armament: | 42-30 pdr., reduced by 1864 to 30-30 pdr. and 12-18 pdr. rifled cannon; later rearmed with 2-8″, 24-6″ |
| Notes: | Designed and built by Otto Frederik Suenson, the Danish navy’s “Master Builder” from 1846 to 1864. The screw-frigate NIELS JUEL was the prototype for, and near sister-ship of, the later screw-frigates SJÆLAND and the famous JYLLAND.Although NIELS JUEL was built at the Danish navy’s shipyard at Holmen, in Copenhagen, her steam engine was manufactured in England.NIELS JUEL, together with the screw-frigate JYLLAND and the screw-corvette HEIMDAL, took part in the famous battle of Helgoland in 1864, the last major naval battle between wooden warships operating as a squadron and in line-of-battle formation. NIELS IUEL, rather than her more famous sister-ship JYLLAND, served as the Danish Commodore’s flagship during that Battle.In 1888, NIELS JUEL ended her Danish naval service as a barrack ship.NIELS IUEL’s figurehead still exists today, and is on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station at Holmen, in Copenhagen.
Explanation of Ship Name Niels Juel secured his fame during the Skånian War of 1675-1679, when, leading a numerically inferior Danish fleet and without losing a single Danish warship in doing so, Juel first defeated a detachment of Swedish warships in the Battle of Møn, and then defeated the main Swedish fleet at the Battle of Køge Bay. During the Battle of Køge Bay, Niels Juel employed line battle tactics to cut the enemy fleet’s battle line, an early instance of the employment of this difficult tactic, the very tactic which the British admiral Nelson later perfected and employed to secure the greatest of British naval victories, in the Battle of Trafalgar. |
| Name: | HEIMDAL |
| Date: | 1856 |
| Engine: | 600 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Maudslay Son & Field, of England. |
| Speed: | 9.5 knots |
| Warship Type: | Screw Corvette |
| Dimensions: | Length – 53.4 meters Beam – 9.6 meters Draft – 4.9 meters |
| Displacement: | 1,200 tons |
| Armament: | 14- 30 pdrs. |
| Notes: | Designed and built by Otto Frederik Suenson, the Danish navy’s “Master Builder” from 1846 to 1864, the designer and builder of the famous Danish screw-frigate JYLLAND.HEIMDAL was the second of a series of three wooden-hulled, screw corvettes built over a period of a decade, the other two ships being the earlier THOR (1851) and the later DAGMAR (1861). All three screw-corvettes had roughly similar dimensions when built.Although HEIMDAL’s hull was built at the Danish navy’s Orlogsværft at Holmen, in Copenhagen, her steam engine was manufactured by an English firm.HEIMDAL, together with the screw-frigates JYLLAND and NIELS IUEL, took part in the famous Battle of Helgoland in 1864, the last major sea battle between wooden warships. HEIMDAL was also present at the earlier Battle of Rügen, on March 17, 1864. HEIMDAL was deleted from Danish naval service in 1888, and broken up.HEIMDAL’s figurehead still exists today, and is on display at the Naval Officers’ School at the Copenhagen Naval Station, at Holmen, in Copenhagen.
Explanation of Ship Name |
| Name: | SJÆLLAND |
| Date: | 1858 |
| Engine: | 1,000 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Maudslay Son & Field, of England. |
| Speed: | 10 knots |
| Warship Type: | Screw Frigate |
| Dimensions: | Length – 62.5 meters Beam – 13.5 meters Draft – 6 meters (aft) |
| Displacement: | 2,335 tons |
| Armament: | 42-30 pdr., reduced by 1864 to 30-30 pdr., 8-18 pdr. rifled, and 4-12 pdr. rifled cannon; later rearmed with 2-8″ and 24-6″ |
| Notes: | Designed and built by Otto Frederik Suenson, the Danish navy’s “Master Builder” from 1846 to 1864. SJÆLLAND was a near sister-ship of the earlier (prototype) screw-frigate NIELS IUEL, and the later and world-famous JYLLAND, to which SJÆLLAND’s hull design was more closely related than to the NIELS IUEL.SJÆLLAND was built at the Danish navy’s Orlogsværft at Holmen, in Copenhagen, but her steam engine was – like those of her earlier near-sister NIELS JUEL, manufactured in England.During the German War of 1864 against Denmark, SJÆLLAND participated in the Battle of Rügen, on March 17, 1864, when a Prussian naval squadron initiated an attack on a Danish naval force in an attempt to break the Danish blockade of the German coast. The Prussian attempt failed. However, the SJÆLLAND, whose steam engines theoretically had the greatest capability in speed of those Danish warships present, took the lead, as well as the battle honors, of the other Danish warships in counterattacking the Prussian naval squadron. In doing so, SJÆLLAND also received the brunt of the Prussian warships’ fire and, in the process, received significant combat damage.After more than a half a century of Danish naval service, SJÆLLAND was sold out of Danish naval service in 1910.SJÆLLAND’s figurehead still exists today, and is on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station at Holmen, in Copenhagen. |
| Name: | JYLLAND |
| Date: | 1860 |
| Engine: | 1,300 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Baumgarten & Burmeister, of Denmark. |
| Speed: | 12 knots |
| Warship Type: | Screw Frigate |
| Dimensions: | Length – 64.1 meters Beam – 13.5 meters Draft – 6 meters (aft) |
| Displacement: | 2,450 tons |
| Armament: | 44-30 pdr., reduced by 1864 to 32-30 pdr., 8-18 pdr. rifled and 4-12 pdr. rifled cannon; later rearmed with 20-6″ and 6-5″ cannon. |
| Notes: | Designed and built by Otto Frederik Suenson, the Danish navy’s “Master Builder” from 1846 to 1864. JYLLAND was a near sistership of the screw-frigates NIELS IUEL and SJÆLLAND.Unlike the steam engines installed in JYLLAND’s near-sisters NIELS IUEL and SJÆLLAND, the JYLLAND was the first Danish screw-frigate to be equipped with a steam engine. manufactured by a Danish firm.JYLLAND, together with the screw-frigate NIELS JUEL and screw-corvette HEIMDAL, fought in the Battle of Helgoland, the last major naval battle between wooden warships operating as a squadron and in line-of-battle formation. JYLLAND sustained the heaviest combat damage of any of the Danish warships involved in this Battle, receiving 18 direct hits.JYLLAND is now preserved as a museum ship in Ebeltoft, Denmark. |
| Name: | SKJOLD |
| Date: | 1860 (as converted) |
| Engine: | 300 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Baumgarten & Burmeister, of Denmark. |
| Speed: | 9.7 knots |
| Warship Type: | Screw Ship-of-the-Line, or Screw Battleship (as converted) |
| Dimensions (as converted): |
Length – 184′ 8″ Beam – 46′ Draft – 19′ 9″ |
| Displacement: | 2,065 tons |
| Armament: | 58-30 pdrs., 6-18 pdrs. |
| Notes: | Originally built in 1833, converted to partial steam propulsion in 1858-1860. Sold, in 1876, to James Shaw of London.SKJOLD was the only all-wood “screw ship-of-the-line,” or “screw battleship,” to serve in the Danish navy – this interim category of warship type in the Danish navy was superceded by the “broadside ironclad.”SKJOLD was present at the Battle of Rügen on March 17, 1864, when a Prussian naval squadron attacked a Danish naval force in an attempt to break the Danish blockade of the German coast. The SKJOLD was theoretically somewhat slower (under certain sea conditions) than the next largest Danish warship present, the screw-frigate SJÆLLAND, a near sister-ship of the famous JYLLAND, with the result that the SJÆLLAND took the lead, as well as the battle honors, in counterattacking and pursuing the Prussian warships.Explanation of Ship Name In Norse mythology, Skjold is the son of the principal Norse god Odin, the great war chief, who gives Skjold the task of ruling Jutland in Denmark.In Danish, “skjold” means “shield,” and therefore is a name symbolic of defense, and thus suitable for a Danish warship serving as a defender of Denmark. “Skjold” is also a component of the name Tordenskjold, after which the Danish warship TORDENSKJOLD was named. |
| Name: | DAGMAR |
| Date: | 1861 |
| Engine: | 500 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Baumgarten & Burmeister, of Denmark. |
| Speed: | 9.5 knots |
| Warship Type: | Screw Corvette |
| Dimensions: | Length – 54.4 meters Beam – 10.3 meters Draft – 5 meters |
| Displacement: | 1,222 tons |
| Armament: | 16-30 pdrs. |
| Notes: | DAGMAR was the last, and largest, of a series of three wooden screw-corvettes built over a period of a decade, the earlier screw-corvettes being THOR (1851) and HEIMDAL (1856), both of which are profiled in individual ship data sections above.The DAGMAR was one meter longer, .7 meter wider at her extreme beam, and had a marginally deeper draft, than did her immediate predecessor, the HEIMDAL. As built, the DAGMAR also carried two more 30 pdr. cannon than did either the THOR or the HEIMDAL, presumably on the basis of DAGMAR’s larger dimensions.Of Denmark’s three screw-corvettes, DAGMAR was the only one which was completed with a steam engine manufactured in Denmark, THOR and HEIMDAL being built with steam engines manufactured in England.DAGMAR served as a station ship in the Danish West Indies for five years. From 1887, DAGMAR served as a training ship for naval cadets. She was significantly rebuilt and rearmed in 1886-1887. DAGMAR was placed out of Danish naval service in 1901, and broken up.DAGMAR’s figurehead still exists, and is on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station at Holmen.
Explanation of Ship Name Almost nothing is known about Dagmar, other than from one of Denmark’s folk ballads, which portrays her as intelligent, pious, and kind, with great insight into the needs of Denmark. Dagmar only lived in Denmark for a few years. She had a son with Valdemar. The son died young in a hunting accident. |
| Name: | TORDENSKJOLD |
| Date: | 1862 (as converted) |
| Engine: | 200 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Motala Works in Sweden. |
| Speed: | 8 knots |
| Warship Type: | Screw Frigate (as converted) |
| Dimensions: | Length – 51.9 meters Beam – 13.2 meters Draft – 5.9 meters (aft) |
| Displacement: | 1,496 tons |
| Armament: | 2-60 pdr. and 14-18 pdr. rifled cannon. |
| Notes: | Originally designed and built as an all-sail Danish naval frigate by Otto Frederik Suenson, the Danish navy’s “Master Builder” from 1846 to 1864. Docked at Christianshavn from November 27, 1861, to July 23, 1862, for rebuilding and conversion to steam power. Sold, in 1872, to the commercial firm of H. Puggaard & Co.Explanation of Ship Name Tordenskjold, which in Danish means “thunder shield,” is the honorary title bestowed upon the Norwegian-born Peter Wessel (1690-1720), who first earned distinction as a frigate commander during the early years of the Great Northern War of 1709-1720.Tordenskjold’s greatest fame rests in his later command of a squadron of Danish warships conducing inshore amphibious operations against harbor-bound Swedish naval forces, achieving several notable victories, and the rank of admiral.Tordenskjold met an early death, receiving a mortal wound in a duel shortly after the end of the Great Northern War in 1720, when traveling abroad and having exposed a foreign officer’s cheating in a card game, and dying when only thirty years old. |
Denmark’s Broadside Ironclads
| Name: | DANNEBROG |
| Date: | 1863 |
| Engine: | 1,150 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Baumgarten & Burmeister, of Denmark. |
| Speed: | 8.7 knots |
| Dimensions: | Length – 65.5 meters Beam – 15.5 meters Draft – 7.1 meters |
| Displacement: | 3,057 tons |
| Armament: | 16-60 pdr., later rearmed with 6-8″, 10-6″ cannon |
| Notes: | Bark-rigged with auxiliary sail power, after her conversion in 1863 to a broadside ironclad. Originally designed and built in 1850 as a traditional, 72-gun, sail powered wooden battleship by Andreas Schifter, the Danish navy’s “Master Builder” from 1814 to 1846, who also designed the hulls of the first war steamers built in Denmark, the paddle-wheelers GEJSER (1844) and SKIRNER (1847).From April 29, 1862, to November 30, 1863, the DANNEBROG was docked at the Danish navy’s Nyholm dockyard for conversion from a wooden battleship to an “armored frigate” (“panserfregat”) – i.e., broadside ironclad.While docked, DANNEBROG was “razeed” by removing one of her decks, reducing her original battleship’s rigging, and sheathing the DANNEBROG’s above-water hull with10 cm. iron armor plating. A 400 horsepower Danish marine steam engine was also installed during this conversion.. DANNEBROG’s original broadside armament was also altered at this time.”Razee” is a French term which means the cutting off, or “cutting down,” of a warship’s entire upper decks or upper works, and reducing her masts, spars, and sail area, to create a smaller but more powerful warship. This occasional practice originated in the conversion of powerfully-built, large wooden warships into a smaller-classed warship of unusual power.The DANNEBROG involved an unusual historical variation of the occasional practice of “razeeing” a wooden warship, where the DANNEBROG was both “razeed” in the traditional manner, but was then also armored with the fitting of both iron plate and fitted with steam engine power. DANNEBROG was placed out of Danish naval service in 1897. When DANNEBROG was docked in 1862 for conversion into an ironclad, her figurehead was removed when she was razeed, during her rebuilding. DANNEBROG’s figurehead has survived to the present day, and is on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station at Holmen. |
| Name: | PEDER SKRAM |
| Date: | 1864 |
| Engine: | 1,680 horsepower. Engine manufactured by Baumgarten & Burmeister, of Denmark. |
| Speed: | 11 knots |
| Dimensions: | Length – 69 meters Beam – 15.1 meters Draft – 5.7 meters |
| Displacement: | 3,379 tons |
| Armament: | 6-8″, 8-6″ cannon, and 2-18 pdr. carronades |
| Notes: | Purpose-built as a “panserfregat” (“armored frigate), her official classification in the Danish navy, at the Danish navy’s shipyard (“Orlogsværftet”) in Copenhagen. Ship-rigged with auxiliary sail power. PEDER SKRAM was placed out of Danish naval service in 1901.The classification as a “broadside ironclad” subsequently applied to this warship, and the other two Danish broadside ironclads, is merely an international form of retrospective categorization, largely historical.Explanation of Ship Name Peder Skram (1502-1581), a high-born admiral of Denmark, achieved his greatest distinction in conducting Danish naval operations which broke the supremacy of the Lübeck fleet during the Counts War (1534-1536, involving the issue of the succession to the Danish king Frederick I), thereby permanently ending the maritime supremacy of the Hanseatic League in the Baltic.During the early part of the Seven Years War of 1563-1569, Peder Skram was still in command of the Danish fleet, in operations against Sweden. Peder Skram was the first, and something of a symbolic father or grandfather, of a long-line of able Danish naval commanders. |
| Name: | DANMARK |
| Date: | 1864 |
| Engine: | 1,000 horsepower. |
| Speed: | 8.5 knots |
| Dimensions: | Length – 82.5 meters Beam – 5.7 meters Draft – 5.7 meters |
| Displacement: | 4,770 tons |
| Armament: | 12-8″, 10-6″ |
| Notes: | Originally ordered by the Confederate States of America (CSA), during the United States’ “Civil War.” Built in England of iron, under the names of SANTA MARIA or GLASGOW, by the Thompson firm. When the CSA never took possession of her she became available for sale to another purchaser. She was thus ultimately purchased by Denmark during the approaching climax of its Slesvig-Holstein troubles.Ship-rigged with auxiliary sail power. Sold by the Danish navy in 1907 to the German firm of Nengebauer & Co., when she became a German commercial freighter. |
Armored Battery (Panserbatteri) Ship
| Name: | ROLF KRAKE |
| Date: | 1862 |
| Engine: | 700 horsepower. Engine built (?) by R. Napier & Sons, of Scotland” |
| Speed: | 9.5 knots |
| Dimensions: | Length – 183′ 9″ between perpendiculars Beam – 38′ 2″ Draft – 10′ 6″ (56 x 11.63 x 3.2 meters) |
| Displacement: | 1,320 tons |
| Armament: | 4-68 pdr. smoothbores – later rearmed twice during her career. |
| Notes: | The first operational “gun turret” warship in Europe – a major advancement and historical precedent not only in Denmark, but also in world naval construction. Also the first warship to employ the patented “Cole” gun-turret, named after its British designer.ROLF KRAKE was built by the same Scottish shipbuilder, and manufacturer of marine steam engines, that built the earlier Danish paddle-wheel steamship SLESVIG, which Denmark acquired in 1849 for use as a royal yacht for the Danish monarchy.The “armored battery” ship ROLF KRAKE was employed, during the German War of 1864 against Denmark, in a historically-significant, precedent-setting naval role in providing mobile, heavy, seaborne gunfire support to assist the Danish army against the invading German armies’ seaward flank.ROLF KRAKE was a prototype “turret ship” design, for a coast defense role, from which subsequent Danish-built, low freeboard Danish “turret ships,” such as LINDORMEN and GORM, evolved. Sold for scrapping in Holland in 1907.Denmark’s acquisition of the ROLF KRAKE, from a Scottish shipbuilder and marine engine manufacturer, brought to a close the early cycle of the Danish navy’s procurement of advanced steamship and iron warship building technology by means of international technology transfer to Denmark from foreign sources.
Explanation of Ship Name There are similarities between the legendary champions Rolf Krake and Holger Danske, although the latter’s name has the more powerful connotations by the inclusion of the characterization “Danske.” Because of his symbolism as a legendary Danish champion, Rolf Krake is an appropriate name for a Danish combat warship, rather than an auxiliary naval vessel. |
Læs mere:
Jens Riise Kristensen, Flådens Ansigt: Den Danske Marines Gailionsfigurer (2001)
Hanne Poulsen, Figureheads and Ornaments on Danish Ships and in Danish Collections (1977)
Hans Christian Bjerg and John Erichsen, Danske Orlogsskibe 1690-1860 (1980)
Sven Thostrup, Holmen og Orlogsværftet (1989)