HDMS ''Najaden'' was a

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

in the

Royal Danish-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 h ...

. She was commissioned in 1811 and originally carried 36 guns,Record Card fo
Najaden
/ref> later being upgraded to 42. She served briefly during the

Gunboat War The Gunboat War (, ; 1807–1814) was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Nav ...

only seeing action once, when on 6 July 1812 the British

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

and the sank her during the

Battle of Lyngør The Battle of Lyngør was a naval action fought between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom in 1812 on the southern coast of Norway. The battle ended in a Dano-Norwegian defeat, and marked the end of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway's involvement ...

. The Battle of Lyngør effectively ended Denmark's involvement in the Napoleonic Wars.

Origin

During their occupation of Copenhagen in 1807, the British destroyed a partially built ship-of-the-line by hacking away the supports so that the ship fell on its port side, which crushed most of its timbers. The starboard side was essentially intact however, and the Danes used these timbers to build a new frigate – the ''Najaden''.The name translates as "Water Nymph" - see mythology

Naiad In Greek mythology, the naiads (; grc-gre, ναϊάδες, naïádes) are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who ...

Career

During her entire short life, ''Najadens'' captain was the Danish naval officer

Hans Peter Holm Hans Peter Holm (17 June 1772 – 26 October 1812)Topsøe-Jensen, pp. 598–601. was a Danish naval officer who commanded vessels of the Dano-Norwegian Navy in several actions. He commanded several naval vessels during the Gunboat War. His most imp ...

. Her maiden voyage on 29 February 1812 (a leap year) had been delayed by one day because the ship grounded whilst leaving Copenhagen harbour. She then dragged an anchor on arrival in Brekkestø, Norway, which led to rudder damage on rocks, which further delayed her entry on active service. Still, on this short voyage the ship had achieved a good average speed of ten knots. Then yet more early storm damage curtailed training of the crew.

Battle of Lyngør

''Najadens'' captain, Hans Peter Holm, also commanded the squadron that consisted of the three brigs - ''Kiel'', ''

Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of Region Sjælland (Region Zealand). As of 1 January 2022, it has 57,618 inhabitant ...

'' (or ''Laaland'') and ''Samsøe''. Eyeing an opportunity to enforce the blockade and break the back of Dano-Norwegian seapower, the British deployed the 64-gun

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

ship-of-the-line and three brigs, the 18-gun ''Cruizer''-class brig-sloop , 14-gun

brig-sloop In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

and the 14-gun

gun-brig A gun-brig was a small brig-rigged warship that enjoyed popularity in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, during which large numbers were purchased or built. In general these were vessels of under 200 tons burthen, and thus smaller than ...

. Within 45 minutes of the commencement of the action, ''Najaden'' had sunk, having suffered 133 dead and 82 wounded. Captain Holm survived, only to drown in an accident a few months later. The battle resumed as Norwegian gunboats found their way into Lyngør. At 2 a.m. on July 7, ''Dictator'', which had grounded, pulled herself off and departed from the battleifeld. The British took ''Lolland'' and ''Kiel'' as prizes but had to abandon them after the two vessels grounded. The British did not set fire to either as they still had their crews and wounded aboard. The action cost ''Dictator'' five killed and 24 wounded, ''Calypso'' three killed, one wounded and two missing, and ''Flamer'' one killed and one wounded. Overall, the Danish recorded their losses as 300 men killed or wounded.

Notes

References

External links

Najaden - The Frigate
from the Norwegian Marine Museum

*Individual record cards in Danish for ships of the Danish Royal Navy can sometimes be (April 2019) found on the internet a
Orlogmuseet Skibregister.
The Danish Naval Museum is buildin
a new website
at which details, drawings and models may be available. For individual ships already listed, including Najaden, se

. *Record card for th

in Danish
Biography of Hans Peter Holm
(in Norwegian)
Model
of Najaden (1811) {{DEFAULTSORT:Najaden (1811) Frigates of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy Maritime incidents in 1812 1811 ships Ships designed by Frantz Hohlenberg Ships built in Copenhagen Shipwrecks in the North Sea Shipwrecks of Norway