The ''Delfinen''-class submarines were the first class of submarines constructed for the

Royal Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy (, ) is the Naval warfare, sea-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Denmark, Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and ...

following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. They were designed and built within Denmark, with first three boats of the class financed by Denmark. The fourth was financed by the United States (where it was known as SS-554) under the

Cost Share Cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is ...

program. Constructed between 1956 and 1963, the class comprising four submarines (, , and ) entered service in 1961 and the last taken out of service in 1990. Replaced by the Norwegian , three of them were

scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on i ...

while a fourth was converted into a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

and remains on display at the Aalborg Maritime Museum.

Description

The ''Delfinen'' class had a

standard displacement The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...

of and when submerged. They measured long with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of . The submarines were propelled by two

shafts ''Shafts'' was an English feminist magazine produced by Margaret Sibthorp from 1892 until 1899. Initially published weekly and priced at one penny, its themes included votes for women, women's education, and radical attitudes towards vivisection ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s and two

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

s. The submarines had a maximum speed of both surfaced and submerged and a range of at . The submarines were equipped with passive and active

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

and a schnorkel. The ''Delfinen'' class were armed with four

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s located in the bow. They had a complement of 33.

Ships

Construction and service

Following

, the

which had lost the majority of its fleet during the German invasion, was restocked with ex-British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

submarines on loan and salvaged Danish submarines that had been scuttled during the war. Denmark joined

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and was assigned the defence of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

which led to an emphasis on submarines. The ''Delfinen'' class marked the Royal Danish Navy's first new submarines in the post war era. Designed by the Danish and constructed at the Naval Shipyard in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, the first three vessels in the class were paid for the Danish and were constructed between 1956 and 1961. The fourth submarine of the class, ''Springeren'', was financed by the United States and known as SS-554. The class remained in service until the beginning of the 1980s, when the Royal Danish Navy intended to replace them with former Norwegian s in 1986. Only three ''Kobben''-class units were acquired due to a lack of funds and ''Springeren'' remained in service until 1990. ''Springeren'' is preserved as a museum ship at the Langeland Fortet Museum.

Notes

Citations

References

* * * {{cite book , editor-last=Gardiner , editor-first=Robert , editor-last2=Chumbley , editor-first2=Stephen , editor-last3=Budzbon , editor-first3=Przemysław , name-list-style=amp , year=1995 , title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995 , publisher=Naval Institute Press , location=Annapolis, Maryland , isbn=1-55750-132-7 Submarine classes Ships built in Denmark