Dannebroge

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Dannebroge
The Dannebroge in flames, painting by Carl Neumann
The Dannebroge in flames, painting by Carl Neumann
Ship data
flag DenmarkDenmark (naval war flag) Denmark
Ship type Ship of the line
home port Copenhagen
Owner Kongelige Danske Marine
Launch 1692
Whereabouts Explodes in 1710
Ship dimensions and crew
length
51.5 m ( Lüa )
width 13.3 m
Draft Max. 6.4 m
 
crew 600

The Dannebroge was a Danish ship of the line that exploded and sank on October 4, 1710 in a battle during the Great Northern War . Almost all 600 men on the ship's crew were killed.

Picture gallery

history

The Dannebroge was built in 1692 and was the largest ship of the line in the Danish-Norwegian Navy . At that time she was armed with 84 cannons on two ship decks and had a crew of 600 men.

the last fight

The Dannebroge on fire

In 1710 Denmark-Norway waged the Great Northern War against Sweden . The commandant of the Dannebroge was Iver Hvitfeldt . On October 4, 1710, the ship and 44 other ships set sail for Libau in what is now Latvia . The fleet was to escort 6,000 Russian soldiers to the Danish capital, Copenhagen .

However, the fleet was intercepted by a Swedish fleet in the Køgebucht . In the course of the battle, the Danish liner Dannebroge caught fire. Since the cannons overheated from continuous fire, the surrounding planks began to burn. Since there was a risk that the ship could explode and set other ships in the fleet on fire, the ship did not steer through the fleet to the beach, but remained at anchor. The surrounding ships were instructed to move away from the burning ship. Eventually the ship exploded.

The Commander in Chief of the Danish Navy, Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve , followed the battle from his ship Elephanten and later reported the incident to the king. Of the 600 crew members, only between three and nine men survived the explosion.

The wreck

Monument column for the commander Iver Hvitfeldt

The Dannebroge is the only wreck in the Danish sea area (position 55 ° 30 ′  N , 12 ° 30 ′  E, coordinates: 55 ° 30 ′  N , 12 ° 30 ′  E ) where diving is prohibited. The Danish monument protection authority ( Kulturarvsstyrelsen ) classified the wreck as a cemetery.

Some cannons were recovered in 1714; others were recovered by the Svitzer company in 1875. Some of the cannons were later used by the Danish architect Vilhelm Dahlerup for a memorial to the ship. This is now in Copenhagen.

literature

  • Hans Christian Bjerg and John Erichsen: Danske orlogsskibe 1690-1860. Lademann 1980. ISBN 87-15-06956-7 .
  • E. Briand de Crèvecœur: Iver Huitfeldt. Hans liv og daad. København 1947. H. Hirschsprungs Forlag.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Briand de Crèvecœur, pp. 179, 190.