World-class Danish naval vessels

Danish frigates have taken part in innumerable international missions far from Danish shores, and they have been an effective and safe base for many deployed personnel. The frigates have been held in great esteem by NATO allies for their strength, capability and endurance. And the design of the Danish frigates is now also forming the basis for frigates currently on order by the United Kingdom, Poland, Indonesia, and others.

The five Danish frigates have been in operation with the Royal Danish Navy since 2010, and they were designed and built by the former Odense Staalskibsv?rft shipyard, which was owned by the A.P. M?ller-Maersk Group until it closed in 2011. The design of the frigates has been further developed and lives on at Odense Maritime Technology (OMT), which is Denmark's leading designer of naval vessels and which today develops and sells naval vessels for the whole world. Together with Terma and Pension Danmark, OMT is in a consortium tasked with designing and delivering new patrol vessels to Denmark.

Absalon was delivered in 2010 as the first of five frigates, and since then Danish frigates have been on innumerable missions in maritime trouble spots around the world, where they have been a solid and safe platform for many personnel deployed by the Royal Danish Navy, the Frogman Corps (fr?mandskorpset), the Royal Danish Air Force, etc. Among other operations, they have helped secure sea lanes for Danish and international shipping against piracy. On this type of mission, the frigates have to be designed and equipped to perform military duties, and they must also act as a base and home for the deployed personnel.

“The ships have to be a nice place to stay. In other words, a good place to be as a human being, because they have good facilities and there is space for privacy if necessary."

Quote: Torben Mikkelsen

“Creating synergy between the mission and the base on one and the same ship is precisely what has been done with the frigates. There is good space and good exercise areas and common areas for deployed personnel,” says Torben Mikkelsen.

Good conditions for the crew are important to retain crews and attract new crews. Personnel on deployment often spend several months on the frigates, so it is vital that the ships are a good place to spend many hours when not on duty. Life onboard ship should be as close to normal life as possible, and for this reason digitalisation is also essential, so that the crew can maintain contact with their loved ones at home.

Like the personnel, military equipment also needs good space. Absalon and Esbern Snare have particularly large ‘baggage holds’, with space for mobile materiel such as cars, personnel carriers or tanks. The holds can also be converted to mobile field hospitals, detention centres or crew messes.

“The frigates have shown their enormous value because they have space to take onboard several and different functional contributions”

Quote: Torben Mikkelsen.

Functional contributions include the equipment required for a given mission, for example for teams of Frogman Corps, engineers and Military Police that are crucial to establish a world-class counter-piracy organisation onboard the frigates.

The frigates have been designed to manage equipment and craft for special operations, and to detain suspected and charged pirates and gather evidence. This means that “the frigates are probably one of the world’s best counter-piracy units," says Torben Mikkelsen.

Compared with traditional warships, the Danish frigates have been designed to be more stable by giving them a wider beam. This ensures that, besides having space for effective weapons and sensor systems, the frigates also have space and stability to cope with very different functional contributions, depending on the type of the mission. Furthermore, the frigates are very seaworthy, which is important, no matter whether the ship is operating in the Baltic or the Atlantic. Finally, the frigates have ‘long legs’ with high range and endurance so that they can operate for many days over large distances without having to refuel.

These ‘long legs’ were a huge advantage during a joint Danish-Norwegian-British military operation in Syria in 2013, when 1300 tonnes of chemical materiel and chemical weapons were retrieved from Syria for disposal. Torben Mikkelsen led the mission, in which the frigate Esbern Snare took part. “On the RECSYR mission, we didn’t have to refuel, whereas I had to send back the other frigates in the fleet almost every week to refuel. We had a huge advantage with the range of our frigate; in fact our endurance was more a question of when we ran out of tomatoes,” says Torben Mikkelsen.

The frigates are often part of NATO's standing maritime group and the Royal Danish Navy participate annually in Fleet Operations Sea Training (FOST) held by the British Royal Navy. This gives crews more experience and training with other nations. And as the Danish frigates are in the same design family as the future T31 frigates currently being built in the United Kingdom, there are huge benefits and synergies with regard to training and education. “This cooperation will give the Brits a taste of what it’s like to sail on this type of frigate, and in return we get feedback and input about their experience of the strengths and weaknesses of our units,” says Torben Mikkelsen. As the frigates come from the same design family, crews can sail on both Absalon and Iver Huitfeldt class frigates without major training challenges.

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The product system and experience from the Danish frigates is important for the development of new and future warships, including the new patrol vessels for Denmark that, with input from the Royal Danish Navy, will be designed and delivered by Dansk Patruljeskibe. “The product system and similarity in design with existing Danish and foreign ships mean that the new technologies of the future can be integrated on a robust and secure design platform,” says K?re Groes, Christiansen CEO of OMT. New technologies include climate-friendly propulsion systems, modularity, and drones, all of which have to be integrated with a robust and stable product system developed specifically for naval vessels.

OMT's product system for naval vessels is also much sought-after abroad, and it makes it possible to sustainably design naval vessels for Denmark that meet the technological demands of the future while also forming a safe base for deployed personnel: Regardless of whether the vessels are to operate in Danish coastal waters, the north Atlantic around Greenland and the Faroe Islands, or in international maritime trouble spots.

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FACTS ABOUT THE PATROL VESSELS:

In June 2023, the Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (FMI) signed a total supplier contract with Danske Patruljeskibe K/S – a consortium set up by Terma, Odense Maritime Technology and PensionDanmark - on the preliminary project for new patrol vessels for the Danish Defence. Under the contract, the consortium is responsible for the development of modern, future-proofed naval vessels for the Danish Defence according to a groundbreaking new partnership model that also ensures strong security of supply for the Danish Defence.

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Article written by: Thomas Eefsen / CCO at OMT and published in this years 'flagdagsmagsin'.

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