Edvard Christian Danielsen

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Edvard Christian Danielsen (born April 14, 1888 in Mandal ; † January 30, 1964 ibid) was a Norwegian naval officer, most recently Vice Admiral , and from 1949 to 1951 Commander in Chief of the Norwegian Navy .

family

Danielsen's parents were the commercial captain and later businessman Daniel Danielsen (1842–1895) and his wife Magrethe Cecilie Jensen (1855–1939). He himself was married to Julie Klein Torjussen (1892–1968) from 1915.

Early career

He joined the Navy in 1906 and became a sub-lieutenant ( Fenrik ) after graduating from the Naval Academy in 1909 . After further training at the Naval Academy in 1911, he was promoted to Prime Lieutenant in 1912 . 1913-14 he studied at the Technical University in order to prepare for the change to the submarine weapon. During the First World War he served from 1914 to 1917 in securing Norwegian neutrality . From 1917 he served continuously in the submarine weapon until 1936, with brief interruptions in sea patrols on surface ships. In 1920 he received his first command as a submarine commander. In 1924 he was promoted to captainleutnant ( captain ). From 1934 to 1936 he was head of the submarine division, then until 1937 head of the trawler inspection in Northern Norway. In 1938 he became a frigate captain ( Kommandørkaptein ) and chief of the torpedo boat department in the admiralty staff.

Second World War

After the German occupation of Norway in April 1940, Danielsen fled to Great Britain in early June . In London he contacted the Scandinavia department of the British Secret Intelligence Service ( SIS ) and became their first agent in Norway. It was equipped with a radio transmitter , codes and instructions and returned to Norway on June 28, 1940 in a British submarine. On July 2nd, he was set ashore on the Ullerøy peninsula, southeast of Fredrikstad . Then he traveled to Oslo by train with his radio transmitter in his suitcase. The transmitter was set up in the basement of Captain Gabriel Smith and operated under the code name "Oldell" by the telegraph operator Sigurd Johannessen. This was the first transmitter to establish regular radio communications between Oslo and London during World War II and the most active radio transmitter in Norway during the first year of the Norwegian War. A total of 631 radio messages were sent and 137 received. The station went silent on March 23, 1941 after its existence was revealed. On November 26, 1941, five people who had anything to do with the transmitter were executed by the German occupying forces .

Danielsen had already traveled back to the UK after setting up the station. There he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Norwegian High Command in London. The main task was the establishment of a new Norwegian Navy and the training of the necessary personnel. Following the resignation of the Commanding Admiral Henry this in August 1941 Danielsen was appointed Rear Admiral promoted and appointed Deputy Commander Admiral. This made him the de facto chief of the Norwegian Navy, and he was seen in all parts of the Navy as the best possible new commander in chief. However, since he had previously suffered a serious lung disease in the spring of 1941 and was only able to resume service after six months, the government-in-exile shied away from the risk of another quick change at the top of the navy and decided against his appointment as commanding admiral . Until 1944 he therefore remained nominally only deputy commanding admiral.

Danielsen proved to be a capable and energetic leader of the Navy, both at the operational level and in longer term planning work. The navy's active participation in the war was a central aspect of Norwegian defense planning and development in the 1940s, and Danielsen was a driving force in this. His participation in and monitoring of the extensive planning that was reflected in the fleet plan of 1944 was particularly important. The fleet plan included an ambitious program for the development of the Norwegian navy in the post-war period and recommended restructuring from a coastal navy with many small vehicles to a more powerful navy with larger ships that would be able to operate offshore and on the high seas to operate. Although the naval leadership weakened these ambitious proposals, this planning work for the reconstruction of the navy after the war pointed the way.

In 1942 Danielsen was very active in the organized political opposition that demanded that the London government in exile set up a consultative assembly of Norwegians abroad. He was one of the leading initiators of the memorandum of November 25, 1942, the so-called Danielsen letter, and the subsequent signature campaign on this request. However, the Nygaardsvold government had serious constitutional and practical concerns and opposed it. This political commitment had no influence on Danielsen's further career, as he had obviously acted out of idealism and not on the basis of political opposition to the government and was promoted as a figurehead by politically motivated opposition members.

In 1944 Danielsen became the first naval commander in the liberated part of Norway as the commander of the Northern Navy Command.

Post-war years

In 1946 he became chief of the West Coast naval command, where he remained until 1949, interrupted by a year as deputy chief of staff of the Ministry of Defense. In May 1949 he was promoted to Vice Admiral and appointed Commander in Chief of the Navy. In the summer of 1951, he and his chief of staff resigned because he did not agree with what he considered to be inadequate tasks and powers assigned to the Norwegian Navy under NATO's common defense policy . He was particularly dissatisfied that his request for the procurement of larger surface vessels was not accepted. However, he made it clear that his resignation should not be understood as a criticism of NATO, but a reaction to the underfunding of the Navy and the strong political interference of the 27-year-old Defense Minister Jens Christian Hauge in the interests of the military. (His successor, Thore Horve , who had also been his predecessor from 1946 to 1949, also resigned in October 1951 for the same reasons.)

Danielsen retired at his own request and then worked for several years as a sales manager at the fruit juice and canned food manufacturer Heistad Fabrikker A / S in Porsgrunn . He spent his retirement in Mandal.

Awards

Danielsen was awarded the highest Norwegian medal , the War Cross , in 1943 for his role in setting up the secret broadcaster Oldell .

He also received the following awards:

Web links

literature

  • Bjørn Rørholt & Bjarne W. Thorsen: Usynlige soldiers - Nordmenn i Secret Service forteller. Aschehoug Forlag, Oslo, 1990, ISBN 82-03-16046-8
  • Kristen Taraldsen: Ti i krig. Fædrelandsvennen, Kristiansand, 1998, ISBN 82-90-58128-9
  • JE Jacobsen: "Kontreadmiral Edvard Christian Danielsen." Nekrolog in Norsk tidsskrift for sjøvesen , Volume 79, 1964, pp. 50-51
  • CG McKay: The SIS network in Norway, 1940-1945. in: Intelligence and National Security, Volume 10, Issue 3, 1995, pp. 539-542
personal data
SURNAME Danielsen, Edvard Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian Admiral, Commander of the Norwegian Navy
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Mandal , Norway
DATE OF DEATH January 30, 1964
Place of death Mandal , Norway