The Danmark is a 253 foot full-rigged ship
built and launched in 1932 in Lolland, Denmark. Commissioned in June
1933 she was constructed for use as a sail training ship. Her
complement is 19 crew and 80 or more cadets.
For six years she carried out her duties for
Denmark until 1939. When war broke out that year she was attending the
World Trade Fair in New York and was ordered by her management not to
return to Europe due to the threat of German submarines in the
Atlantic. She was laid up in Jacksonville, Florida until the United
States entered the war in December 1941. When America entered the war
Captain Knud L. Hansen, who commanded the Danmark, immediately offered
the ship to the United States Government to be used by them in any
capacity they thought fit, an offer which was welcomed and accepted at
once. She was allotted to the US Coast Guard as a training vessel and
went into service under the command of Commander MacGowan of the USCG,
but with her own captain as sailing master and her officers and staff
continuing their normal duties. While under the American flag her
complement was about 100 cadets. During her time at the USCG Academy in
New London, Ct. she trained more than 5000 Coast Guard cadets. Her
performance was so appreciated by the USCG that they decided to carry
on sail training after the war with the German war prize barque Horst
Wessel which they renamed Eagle.
After returning to Denmark on Nov. 13 1945 she
resumed her peace time duties the following year. She operated a very
regular annual routine until 1990. She ran two five-month training
cruises a year, one for apprentices (midshipmen) and the other to teach
basic seamanship. She has had mixed trainee crews since 1983. After a
major refit in 1990 her training program was reduced to only one cruise
a year teaching basic seamanship.
