Campaigns & Battles

The Sea surrounding Denmark

Denmark is a small country geogra-phically surrounded by water, and most of our ancient History is there-fore closely related to the sea.

The location just in between the Baltic Sea to the East, and the North Sea to the West; the Scandinavian penin-sular to the Northeast and North, and just connected by a short border to Germany to the South, has always implied a strategic major naval importance.

The faith of the Kingdom of Denmark has for centuries mostly been depen-ding of the strength of the Danish naval forces, and the History of the Navy reflects this situation.

The waters surrounding the country have for decades supplied food to the nation as well.

Denmark in the Baltic area...

Denmark in the Baltic Sea area

The waters, however, have always acted as both the first and last line of de-fense on many occasions.

The sovereignty of the nation has several times during the history been depending upon the strength of the Navy.

Some times successfully, sometimes not.

- Here you will find more stories and facts on the Royal Danish Navy, and the Royal Danish-Norwegian Navy.

Danish Naval History

Denmark has one of the oldest navies of the world, and at a time, also one of the mightiest navies of the world.

Until 1814 the kingdom was a union between Denmark and Norway, whereas the naval history of Denmark actually also means the history of the Royal Danish-Norwegian Navy.

This web-site will primarily cover the last 200 years of Danish Naval History.

De tre korvetter af NIELS JUEL-klassen

The 3 Corvettes of
the NIELS JUEL Class

The period is from 1801, i.e. from the time just before "The Battle of Copenhagen" in 1801.

During the Schleswig-Holstein crisis 1848-1850 and 1864.

During two World Wars and to mid-1993, when the Navy was transferred from its historical naval base in Copenhagen, and dispersed among the provincial naval bases.

We will also focus upon the Royal Danish cruising the high seas, off the Danish West Indies and patrolling on peacekeeping operations.

We will focus on the many incidents of this period.

Some of which are less known, and others just forgotten.

On this Website, you will find several in-depth articles covering many aspects of the Danish Naval History.

You may also find information on the period before 1801, including an artichle meant as an introduction to the Royal Danish-Norwegian Navy giving a short view of the 300 years before 1801.

Not just for the History Freaks

All the articles are briefly introduced, especially to those who just want to re-fresh their memories.

The cover stories will be updated frequently with more in-depth stories, covering most possible aspects of the history.

This goal is to benefit maritime enthusiasts and, naturally, to augment the documentation available on this web-site.

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- Do you miss a major event on this Site,
or do you hold a great story?

Are you able to contribute to the unfolding of the Danish Naval History,
please e-mail me, enclosures are welcome.
Please remember to list your sources.

You can also use the Naval Web Forum on this web-site.

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THE TOPIC STORIES:

The Navy before 1801

Wars against England (1801-1814)

Reconstructing the Navy (1814-1848)

The 1st Schleswig War (1848-50)

The interim War Years (1850-64)

The 2nd Schleswig War (1864)

The long Period of Peace (1864-1914)

The Navy during the 1st World War (1914-1918)

The Interim Years (1919-1939)

The Navy during the 2nd World War (1939-1945)

The Cold War Period (1945-1989)

The Navy after 1989

This page was last updated: December 8, 2005

This page was first published: July 29, 2001