The ''Sophia Amalia'' was a ship of the

Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy The history of the Danish navy began with the founding of a joint Dano-Norwegian navy on 10 August 1510, when King John appointed his vassal Henrik Krummedige to become "chief captain and head of all our captains, men and servants whom we now ha ...

named after Sophia Amalia, the wife of King Frederick III.

Construction and design

The ship was built at Hovedøen in Christiania under the direction of English shipbuilder James Robbins and was launched in 1650. She was 51.8 meters long and at that time one of the largest naval vessels in the world. She was commissioned by King Christian IV specifically to surpass the British ship . The ship was manned by a crew of 680 and had an armament of 108 guns, surpassing ''Sovereign of the Seas'' by eight guns.

Captains

*Rasmus Clemmensen 3 June 1667 *Simon Fochs de Boer May 1673 * Niels Juel August 1675 as head of vanguard in the Baltic Sea Fleet under Cort Adelaer with the admiral's flag raised in the Sophie Amalia *Gustavus Meyer (junior lieutenant on board in 1684)

Legacy

A model of the ship is in the holdings of the Royal Danish Naval Museum. HDMS ''Sophia Amalia'' is one of two ships depicted on what is believed to be the two oldest ship portraits of Danish ships. They are in the collections of

Gavnø Castle Gavnø is a small island off the west coast of Zealand in Næstved Municipality, Denmark. Located some 6 km south-west of Næstved, it has an area of 5.6 km2, and, as of 1 January 2010, it has a population of 57. Gavnø Castle Gavnø ...

References

External links and citations

Norwegian Defence web site
*Royal Danish Naval Museum �

*T. A. Topsøe-Jensen og Emil Marquard (1935) "Officerer i den dansk-norske Søetat 1660-1814 og den danske Søetat 1814-1932“. Two volumes
Volume 1
an
Volume 2
1650s ships Ships of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy Ships built in Oslo Ships of the line of the Royal Danish Navy {{Norway-mil-ship-stub