THE TALL SHIPS OF OPERATION SAIL 2000
Musings on the School Ship Danmark by Suzanne McMurray Ko
T
here is a certain mystique surrounding the training ship Danmark. Wherever she goes, she draws people to her. Nowhere is this phenomenon more apparent than in the United States. In whatever port the Danmark calls, the ship's story precedes her. The Danish ship was stranded on this sideoftheAtlanticin World War II, unable to return to her occupied homeland in April 1940, where she would have become a prize of Nazi Germany. Instead, her captain and crew made the decision to stay here, and, when the US entered the war in December 1941, they offered the vessel to the US government. She then spent nearly four years training Americans at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. She flew the Stars and Stripes, and thus for a time she was part of the US. So today, we welcome her as we would a relative from a distant shore. And because of those years with us, whenever we have an Operation Sail event, Danmark sails next in line behind our Coast Guard training bark Eagle. It's a wonderful story, romantic and heartwarming, but it's more than just the story of a ship; it's the story of the men who served in her during those turbulent yearsthe young captain and his officers, married men with wives and children back in Denmark, who struggled to make decisions that would determine the fate of their ship and the 80 teenage boys entrusted to their care. Initially, the officers attempted to maintain a schooling program aboard in Jacksonville, Florida, bur it was oppressively hot and there was no spirit among the boys for learning again what they had already
been taught. As the months dragged on, one by one the cadets were allowed to sign on merchant ships or join the Allied effort. Meanwhile, Capt. Knud Hansen traveled to Washington DC to see if he could find a solution for the ship and its crew. With American en tty into the war, the possibiliry of serving the Allied effort became real. One day the Coast Guard came aboard to have a look. As a result, the ship sailed to New London, with special permission from the Allied command in Bermuda to fly the Danish colors-without that permission, Danmark would have been a ship under an enemy's flag. When the ship arrived with its remaining officers and a handful of boys, the Academy wasn't sure what to do with it. There was talk of mounting machine guns and sending it to Greenland, butitwouldhave been torpedoed the minute it lefr Long Island Sound-better to use the ship for its original purpose. Ship and crew embarked then on nonstop training cruises in Long Island Sound, with one group after another, in all kinds of weather, until everyone was worn to the bone-but there was a war on. The chief officer recalled how nice it was when he had a few days off-the only problem was that when the ship sailed, his cabin sailed with it. After the war, this same chief officer, Capt. Gordon McGowan, assisted the Coast Guard Academy in acquiring, restoring and sailing to the US the German war prize Horst Wessel, which would become Eagle (see Sea History 86, pp. 45-7 for an excerpt by McGowan on Eagle). When Danmark finally did return home in November 1945, for her men much had
changed in six years. Families had moved, children had grown, relatives had died. As happy as the m en were to return to their loved ones, they realized they had also put down roots in America. Many remained here, marrying American girls and raising families, while others returned home, hoping to find ways to bring their Danish families back to the US. After the return to Denmark, Danmark set out on another training cruise almost immediately, visiting the east and west coasts ofAmerica to say"thankyou" to the American public for its kindness to the ship. The vessel continues its educational mission today. There have, of course, been renovations made over the years, but Danmark remains basically the same. The training program has undergone more dramatic changes in order to keep pace with the demands of modern technology. But the objective to prepare cadets to serve with knowledge and skill in Denmark's merchant fleet is the same. She will always be that beautiful training ship with the young men and boys who joined us in fighting the oppressor. It is a romantic tale, but it is also one ofhardship, determination and bravery on the part of both Danes and Americans associated with the ship. And that's the aura that surrounds people when they visit Danmark. ,t
Mrs. Ko translatedThe Training Ship Danmark: Under the Dannebrog and the Stars and Stripes, as told by Knud Andersen according to the account of Captain Knud Hansen, and Langevad, Story of a Danish Seaman, into English.
The Danmark served out World War II at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, training American cadets. (Photos: US Coast Guard Academy Museum)
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SEA HISTORY 90, AUTUMN 1999