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A Cold War and Navy museum in the harbour of Copenhagen, Denmark, including three vessels from the era that are now open to the public (seasonally).The largest of the vessels is the frigate “Peder Skram”, which was launched in 1965 and modernized in the 1970s to carry state-of-the-art missiles like the “Harpoon” surface-to-surface missile (SSM) … one of these was accidentally misfired in 1982 during a training operation in the Kattegat. The missile caused some material damage but luckily there were no casualties; still it was a major embarrassment. The ship was decommissioned in 1990 and a few years later was turned into a museum ship.
Much smaller, but also important in NATO member Denmark’s role in monitoring the Warsaw Pact navies’ movements in the Baltic Sea during the Cold War, is the fast attack boat “Sehested”, equipped with torpedoes, depth charges and also “Harpoon” SSMs. The vessel was built in the 1970s and stayed in operation until the end of the year 2000, after which she was moved to this museum.
The third vessel permanently on display here is the coastal submarine “Sælen”. This was originally built in 1965 in Germany for the Norwegian navy, but was purchased by Denmark in 1990. Shortly after, the boat sank in the Kattegat while being towed to Aarhus, but was raised, repaired and put back in service in 1993. The sub played a minor role during the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. After that she was decommissioned and handed over to the Royal Danish Naval Museum and put on display, on dry land, here at Holmen.
In addition to the three vessels permanently on display there are sometimes also additional smaller navy craft moored here. Furthermore there is a historic harbour crane and indoor exhibitions.
I wasn’t able to include a visit to this place during my short trip to Copenhagen in August 2023, I saw it only from a distance across the water. But it will definitely be on my itinerary when I go on a return visit some day. Then I will expand this entry into a full chapter. Until then this stub has to do as a stand-in.
Opening times: from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., for the general public, but only seasonally, as far as I could gather; outside the summer season open only on some weekends in the autumn and spring or by special arrangement.
Admission: 160 DKR (some concessions apply)
Location: within a Danish navy compound on the island of Holmen, north of Chirstianshavn and opposite the northern end of the inner city of Copenhagen, well visible from the waterfront.
Google Maps locator: [55.6882, 12.6059]