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HDMS Absalon (L16)
Encyclopedia
HDMS Absalon (L16) and her sister ship HDMS Esbern Snare (L17)
HDMS Esbern Snare (L17)
HDMS Esbern Snare is an support ship, and is along with her sister ship, the HDMS Absalon , the largest combat vessel currently commissioned in the Royal Danish Navy....
are the biggest ships ever to serve in the Royal Danish Navy (RDN)
Royal Danish Navy
The Royal Danish Navy is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish, Greenlandic and Faroese territorial waters...
, and are the two members of the Absalon class flexible support ships. The two ships in the Absalon class, named after Danish archbishop and statesman Absalon
Absalon
Absalon was a Danish archbishop and statesman, who was the Bishop of Roskilde from 1158 to 1192 and Archbishop of Lund from 1178 until his death. He was the foremost politician and churchfather of Denmark in the second half of the 12th century, and was the closest advisor of King Valdemar I of...
, received full operational status in 2007.
The ships are the first in a series of RDN vessels tasked with carrying out new types of missions, and are to form the backbone of the international operations that the RDN is increasingly focusing on.
The Absalon-class ships are primarily designed for command and support roles, with a large ro-ro deck, while the following three frigates of the Ivar Huitfeldt-class
Ivar Huitfeldt class frigate
The Iver Huitfeldt class will be a three-ship class of frigates entering service with the Royal Danish Navy in 2012 and 2013.-Background:...
will be equipped for a combat role and potentially equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles, a first for the Danish Navy. Although similar to the Absalon-class vessels, the frigates will not have a large ro-ro deck.
Scheduled for completion in 2008 and 2009, the frigates are to receive full operational status in 2010 and 2011, replacing the corvettes.
Somali counter-piracy mission
Starting in 2008, HDMS Absalon participated in the UN-led counter-piracy missionPiracy in Somalia
Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century...
off Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
and the east coast of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, acting as flagship to the Danish Task Group which led Task Force 150. In September 2008, as part of the task force, Absalon was involved in the capture of 10 pirates, who were eventually set free. On 3 December 2008, after the mandate had been extended, Absalon rescued a disabled skiff
Skiff
The term skiff is used for a number of essentially unrelated styles of small boat. The word is related to ship and has a complicated etymology: "skiff" comes from the Middle English skif, which derives from the Old French esquif, which in turn derives from the Old Italian schifo, which is itself of...
with suspected pirates aboard in the Gulf of Aden
Gulf of Aden
The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide....
, 90 miles off the coast of Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
; the Somali craft was reported to hold rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
assault rifles, and to have been adrift for several days. The Absalon took the sailors and weapons aboard, sank the craft, and turned the sailors over to the Yemeni Coast Guard. Absalon has reportedly been the most successful counter-piracy warship in the Gulf of Aden
Gulf of Aden
The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide....
, capturing 88 out of the 250 pirates detained.
On 16 March 2009, the Absalon, along with the TCG Giresun, successfully prevented pirates from capturing the Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
ese cargo ship
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
.
Absalons counter-piracy mission with NATO Taskforce 150 in Somali waters ended April 1, 2009, after resulting in the capture of over 80 pirates, some of whom were transferred to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
for trial.
On 5 February 2010, the Absalon helped to rescue the crew of the Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands...
-flagged , which was being hijacked by six armed pirates. The Absalon dispatched a helicopter and a special forces team, deterring the pirates. On 1 March 2010, Absalon was reported to have sunk a Somali pirate mother ship
Mother ship
A mother ship is a vessel or aircraft that carries a smaller vessel or aircraft that operates independently from it. Examples include bombers converted to carry experimental aircraft to altitudes where they can conduct their research , or ships that carry small submarines to an area of ocean to be...
carrying several pirate speedboats in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
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