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Edited and
Designed by:

Johnny E. Balsved

HAVMANDEN (1912-1928)
(In English: The Merman)

The submarine HAVMANDEN in Copenhagen harbor.
(Photo: Archives of the Royal Danish Naval Museum)

Classification

Type:

Submarine

Class:

A Class (or Alpha Class)

Other Ships
in Class:

Submarine THETIS
Submarine HAVFRUEN
Submarine 2den APRIL
Submarine NAJADEN
Submarine NYMFEN

Specifications

Built by:

Whitehead-Fiume Ship Yard, Austria

Design:

n/a

Laid down:

n/a

Launched:

December 23, 1911

Commissioned:

August 20, 1912

Decommissioned:

April 26, 1928

Pennant Number:

H2, later 3

Int'l Call Sign:

n/a

Displacement:

164 tons - surface
204 tons - submerged

Dimensions:

Length:

Beam:

Draught:

-

38.9 m

3.6 m

2.3 m

Complement:

10 - 14 men

Propulsion:

430 Hp (270 Hp - submerged)
1 ea Propeller

Range:

n/a

Armament:

2 ea 45 cm Torpedo tubes (fore)

After 1917 also:

2 ea 8 mm Machineguns

Speed:

13 knots - surface
9.3 knots - submerged

History

Date:

Military Service:

1912

On sea trials

August 1, 1914
- December 21, 1918

In the partly mobilized forces, stationed at Helsingør (see the notes)

March 31, 1919

Transferred to the Naval reserve

April26, 1928

Decommissioned and sold for scrapping

Commanders

Date:

Commanding Officer:

1912

Commander Hjalmar Rechnitzer

1914

Lieutenant C. Schaffalitzky de Muckadell

Notes

On a patrol October 19, 1914 off Nakkehoved (just north of Zealand) the HAVMANDEN was spotted from the British sub E.11. The British mistakenly spotted the Danish sub as being German and immediately fired two torpedoes against the Danish sub.

One of the torpedoes ran just aft of the Danish sub, the second one passed just below. One of the torpedoes stranded at the beach close to Nakkehoved light house the following morning and exploded.

The British Legacy in Copenhagen was later to make an official apologies for the incident.

Sources:

&

U-både gennem 75 år - Det danske ubådsvåben 1909-84, by Hans Chr. Bjerg, Hans Chr. Dahlerup Koch and P. B. Nielsen, Forlaget Forum, 1984

&

Vore orlogsskibe fra halvfemserne til nu, by Kay Larsen, Nyt Nordisk Forlag/Arnold Busck, 1932

&

Vore Undervandsbåde gennem 50 år (1909-1959), by Commander s.g. R. Steen Steensen, Marinehistorisk Selskabs Skrift no. 5, forlaget Ejnar Munksgaard, 1960

44You are also referred to the Naval Bibliography