A visit to Denmark

by Tom Herman

This year’s summer holiday was to Denmark, a few days in Copenhagen to see the sights and then a few more days in Thyborøn, a small commercial fishing port in Jutland.

Copenhagen has many sights, palaces, galleries, canals and shops but what caught my eye was a small Type 206 diesel boat sitting proudly out of the water in the old naval base. HDMS SAELEN is open to the public and it will come as no surprise that I, with Mrs H in tow, had a good look round.

The boat is pretty much as it was left in 2004 when the Danish Submarine Service was disbanded. I had forgotten how small these boats were. Alongside the boat there is a small display of submarine history together with a movie of the boat conducting an attack. The boat is too small for a guided tour and we were the only people onboard throughout our visit.

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The Sea War Museum – Thyborøn

Thyborøn is a small commercial fishing port with two hotels, a few shops and restaurants and an invigorating westerly blowing straight in across the beach. Many ships have been wrecked here including the Russian frigate Alexander Nevsky in 1868 – one of her anchors dominates the waterfront in the harbour. This all would be enough to make a few days here a relaxing break but Thyborøn has a hidden treasure – three linked venues make this place a must visit destination for maritime history buffs.

Although Denmark remained neutral during the First World War, the Battle of Jutland, known in Germany as the Skagerrakschlacht, was fought off its coast on 31 May 1916. The Sea War Museum expertly recounts the events of the battle through exceptional interpretation and a wealth of artefacts. The museum also explores the wider naval war in the North Sea, featuring a dedicated exhibit centred around the fin of HMS E50 and the last surviving 4-inch gun from a K-class boat.

E50 was lost, probably due to a mine, in January 1918. In 2011, a Danish diving expedition, led by Gert Normann Andersen, who founded and still runs the museum, found and surveyed her wreckage that lay in three parts on the sea bed, 64 nm west of the coast. The fin lay covered in fishing nets separate from the other two large pieces. With permission of the MoD it was successfully recovered to save further damage.

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Memorial Park for the Battle of Jutland

Behind the museum and set into the dunes lies a deeply moving memorial park. Each of the 25 vessels lost in the battle is marked by a granite stone, accompanied by a cluster of figures scaled to the number of lives lost. A 26th stone honours those from ships that survived. The stones are arranged to reflect their relative positions during the engagement. Walking through the park with the sea in view evokes much the same feeling as moving through a war cemetery. The way British and German ships are intermingled and similarly remembered is especially striking. In total, 8645 people are commemorated here.

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Secrets of the Sea

Last but by no means least is a second museum – Secrets of the Sea – which contains an eclectic collection of ship models, weapons and artefacts telling stories of loss and sacrifice over many centuries based on maritime archaeology carried out by the museum and others. There is a large collection of naval mines from some of the earliest examples up to the Cold War and rather surprisingly some nuclear weapons too. The upper floor contains an interesting exhibition of diving from the earliest days to the latest equipment plus some very modern drones which had seen service in Ukraine.

For the submariner however what is most exciting is the salvaged fin of HMS K10. We have reported on this before but to see the only extant piece of this innovative but flawed class of boat was a highpoint. In 1921 K10 was sold, with K11, for scrap to a Danish company. They both sank in bad weather during the unmanned tow to Copenhagen. K10 sank north west of Thyborøn and was subsequently located by the museum and the fin then recovered. Unlike the fin of E50 which has been restored they have taken the decision to leave K10 as she was found.

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I heartily recommend The See War Museum and associated sites to all – well worth the drive getting there – give yourselves two days not to be rushed.