Leaving Afghanistan

In a few days time, the last Danish troops will be leaving Afghanistan, concluding all Denmark's combat operations along side her allies. Counting the seven we lost in Iraq, Denmark has suffered fifty fatalities and many more wounded since 2001. The sight of young men in wheel chairs or with limbs missing is no longer a rare sight in Denmark and this visible sign of the cost of war, though it may seem insignificant beside that of the USA or UK, has begun to raise questions in Denmark. With our smaller population, fifty dead, and hundreds seriously wounded, even over so many years, leaves a mark. Some politicians have wondered if the war was worth the price, and one or two have come out openly against the methods used. Many Danes, especially amongst those whose political persuassion lean to the left, regard the entire war as evidence of American imperialism, and by extension, Danish culpability.

I also wonder if the war was worth it. I don't really know what the purpose of the war was, probably because it was never really a war, just ongoing combat operations against a group of people whose identity is almost impossible to define without violating politically imposed definitions. What was the connection between Iraq and Afghanistan? Iran? Islam? Nuclear proliferation in a region incapable of trustwrthy conduct?

Now these combat operations have come to an end, the question of whether we've accomplished anything at all seems pertinent. The debate will rage in Denmark for a long time to come I think, though I doubt any form of unified understanding will establish itself in my life time. We can't even agree on whether or not we can claim a victory. I suppose only time will tell as to whether or not the Taliban will reclaim Afghanistan.

For my part. Even though I am ignorant as to what the real political motivations of the war were. I appreciate the service, and the many, many sacrifices our soldiers have made on our behalf. I won't be voting for any politician whom I suspect of failing them. Either the living or the dead.

U-20

There is a difference between looking at an old object and looking at an historical object. Especially if the object in question is associated with infamy. The first time I realised this, was in 1989 when I was standing inside the gas chamber at Auschwitz staring at a fake shower head. To say that I was touched with sadness would be an understatement. Auschwitz was indescribably dire and I shall never forget the sense of isolation it created within me.

Last week I caught an echo of that feeeing when I was at the St George Musuem and found myself standing in front of the conning tower of U-20, for U-20 was nothing less than the u-boat which sank the RMS Lusitania. See my previous post with regards to the museum.

The conning tower of U-20. The cycle beihnd it gives an indication of just how small the conning tower is.

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Standing next to the conning tower of U-20 was the 105mm deck gun from U-59. According to the infomation plaque, this gun had spent eighty eight years in the sea. It was in a remarkable condition considering.
A copper plate on the side of the gun reads Nr 823. Fried. Krupp. 
The last of these four images is from inside the U-20 conning tower and shows where the periscopes were.

Lusitania was an ocean liner belonging to the Cunard line, and she was launched in 1906. At the outbreak of the First World War she was commandeered by the British Admiralty to be used as an armed merchant ship. She was no good for this however so the Admiralty released her back to Cunard and she resumed her previous rolé as a trans-atlantic passenger ship. On 7 May 1914, as she returned from New York, she was torpedoed just 11 miles off the southern coast of Ireland. 1,198 innocent people were killed. It is said that this incident went a long way to convincing the citizenry of the USA to accept participation in the war, and as the poster image at the top of this post illustrates clearly, the authorities were not shy about using the tragedy to encourage men to sign up and fight.

Standing in front of the rusty old conning tower, on a sunny summers day in Denmark I caught an echo of that same feeling I'd had in Auschwitz so many years before. Here was an historical object, and an object of infamy to boot. I'd had no idea that the U-20 had beached itself at Vrist (where we'd been sleeping in a summer house) for there are no monuments out there and no wrecks to be seen, just the endless flat beach of west Jutland. Even if I'd known about the wreck, I didn't know the number of the u-boat which had sunk Lusitania. Reading the little descriptive plaque which stood in front of the conning tower then, I felt a cold surprise when I realised what I was looking at.

In a way it was a poignant feeling in more ways than one though. There was the empathic feeling for all those innocent people drowning in the cold, dark Atlantic, and a natural abhorence at what men will do to each other, and even to women and children. At the same time there was a weary resignation that when all is said and done, here was a rusty piece of historical flotsam, left to attest to the futility of all the conflict and suffering which we as a species must endure. I often feel the same way when I chance upon a sun bleached crab's carapace, lying on a beach. Once it was a creature that breathed and lived. Now it is just an empty reminder of our inevitable mortality. I am moved to suppose that our only salvation lies in the meaning we give to our lives as we live them, and there can't be much purpose in slaughtering innocent people. I am glad to be so fortunate to live in happier times! 

As for the innocent passengers of Lusitania, and the many other victims of u-boat warfare, and even those poor submariners themselves, so many of whom paid a terrible price for their loyalty to their country. If we have souls, may they all find peace, where ever they are now.
 

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Inside the museum was a scale model of a u-boat, done all in wood. Its worth adding to the post simply because it was so impressive.

24th. December. 1811.

 A model (roughly 1/72 scale) of  HMS St George losing her masts.

On the 23rd of December, 1811, two Royal Navy ships of the line, HMS St George (98 guns) and HMS Defence (74 guns) found themselves in rough seas off the western coast of Jutland. Both were returning from convoy duty in the Baltic, accompanied by a third ship HMS Cressy (74 guns). St George had already suffered in a previous storm on the 15th December and was under a jury rigged mast and with a temporary rudder. When the storm in the North Sea hit her, she was unable to avoid the lee shore and on Christmas Eve both St George and Defence were wrecked in the shoals north of Thorsminde where today the St George Museum commemorates the loss. 1,314 men, women and children drowned and it is said to have been the biggest loss of life to natural cause, in the history of the Royal Navy.

 The route of St George's last voyage. 

Mette and I went to see the museum several years ago, along with her brother and her parents but it was shut. Last week we went again, this time with my brother Peter and his wife Bettina, and so I finally got to see the exhibitions, which were very informative. Having read about Napoleonic warships, first via Patrick O'Brian's novels and then later from various factual books, I had a fairly good idea as to what kind of ships St George and Defence were, but as always there are any number of details which, though books can supply, are best understood from direct observation. An example of this were the 12 pounders which were central to the main display in the first room of the museum. When I turned to look at them, I naturally assumed from their size that they were the ships primary 32 pounder guns. As far as I am aware I have never actually seen a Napoleonic naval gun so I was quite taken aback when I understood they were actually the guns from the ship's upper most gun deck. With hindsight this made sense as the uppermost guns would have fallen from the ship as she turned over where as the 18 and 32 pounders would have been trapped within the hull.

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Left. 12 Pounder guns and carriages. 
Right. A carronade. I never understood just how incredibly small carronades could be until I saw this one. It was hardly 80cm long!

HMS St George was a second rate ship of the line. Second rate refers to the number of guns she carried and not her qualites as a sea going vessel. She carried 98 guns on three decks, with twenty eight 32 pounders on her gun deck (that is to say the lowest of the three gun decks), thirty 18 pounders on her middle gun deck and forty 12 ponders on her upper gun deck, forecastle and quarter deck. By the standards of the age (she was built in 1785) she was about as powerful as it was possible for a ship to become (first rates were very rare), and consequently she was the flag ship of Rear Admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds who was at the time, second in command to none other than Admiral James Saumarez.
St George had previously taken part in the Battle of Hyères Islands and the Battle of Copenhagen of 1801.

HMS Defence smaller but as a third rate 74 gun ship of the line, she was a powerful warship none the less. Her armament consisted of twenty eight 32 pounders on the gun deck and forty six 9 pounders on the upper gun deck, forecastle and quarterdeck. Built in 1763, Defence had seen a long and glorious career, participating in the Battle of Cape St Vincent, the Battle of Cuddalore, the Glorious First of June, the Battle of the Nile and the Battle of Trafalgar.

Only twenty one sailors survived the wreck of these two mighty ships. One was Joseph Page. In a booklet I bought at the museum he is quoted (I am paraphrasing slightly as I am translating from Danish); The Master gave the order to cut the masts but at that moment they were broken down by the storm. The sea washed over the ship and the people screamed. Cannons were ripped loose and cast about the deck, crushing men to death. It was a terrible sight. I saw the carpenter's wife with a little girl in hand. She tried to reach the quarterdeck but a terrible wave broke across the ship and washed her, and many others down the hatch and into the hold.  
 

Its not hard to imagine the fear and confusion that must have reigned on the stricken ships when you see the awesome power of the sea off the Jutland coast. The first day we arrived, the wind was up and sea was in a state of turmoil with some waves reaching four meters in height. It looked frightening enough and this was only a regular day. Personally I intensely dislike swimming in cold water, and the few times I have sailed out onto the sea, I have not enjoyed the experience at all. I can imagine how strong the sea must have been on that nght, and it is not a pleasant thought.The western coast of Jutland is a flat harsh place, famous as a dangerous lee shore. The museum also had exhibits devoted to other wrecks, including the infamous U Boat U-20 (I'll write a post about that later)

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Left: Some of the many bottles which were salvaged from the St George. Some were still intact and contained various alcoholic beverages which were long past their sell by date!
Right: I'm not sure if this is grape or cannister shot, but I think it is the former. The small wooden container to the lower left is half of a sabot, which was designed to come apart once the gun had been fired. Grape shot was used to clear enemy decks, in much the manner of a huge shot gun.


The first investigation of the wreck of the St George took place six days after she had run aground. A boat was sent out and the crew found the warship already partially submerged into the sea bed (the sands along Jutland are prone to excessive mobility). The quarter deck, along with the Captain's and Admiral's cabins was gone and part of the ship's waist had been destroyed. Very little was visible above the surface and only a few ropes and sails were salvaged.

There have been several dives on the wreck over the years. The first took place in 1876. Several small guns and a pair of bells were recovered. One of the bells was donated to a local church and the other is now at the Museum where it hangs along side one of the ship's anchors. The second dive took place in 1904, and on that occaision 48 guns were brought to the surface. They were found to be in good condition, but soon began to rust once they were in contact with the air. They were all sold to a French company and melted down. When the guns were brought to Thyborøn (a town to the north of the wreck site) one of the guns was found to have its tompion still in place. When this was removed (with a loud pop) some joker decided to examine the interior of the barrel using a match for illumination. Needless to say he lost his eyebrows and scorched his beard for the powder was still dry!

In the summer of 1940 (about the same time as Germany was invading Denmark) some Danes decided to dive on the wreck once again. At this point St George had lain in the turbulent North Sea for 129 years and yet when they dived, the Danes found the ship to be in relatively good condition. The lower eight meters of the ship was still submerged in the sand but the upper decks were clearly visible (though even good visibility in the sea off Jutland is usually under a meter) rising 1½ to 3 meters from the sea bed. The Danes used dynamite to excavate the ship and salvaged all the metal they could. Amongst their finds were several 12 pounders, two deck guns, a wealth of iron fittings and a lump of coins. Some of the ships timbers were also salvaged and these were given to a carpenter in Thyborøn who carved them into tobacco boxes.

The St George was finally visited by archeological minded people in the 1970's when the ship was found to be in a state of rapid deteriation. After some unforgiveable indecision by government beaurocrats, several dives were undertaken, recovering various anchors, guns and numerous other artefacts.

Peter and Freja standing in front of the St George's rudder. The diagram below shows a Spanish 98 gun ship of the line. 
If you consider the size of the rudder you get an impression of just how big  HMS St George was.

Sergeant René Brink Jakobsen

Killed in action in the Upper Gereshk Valley, Helmand. Wednesday 2nd. 2012. Sergeant 1st Class, René Brink Jakobsen is the first Danish soldier to fall in Afghanistan since 2011, and the first ever Danish Jæger to be killed in action. He is survived by his wife and three children. May his soul rest in peace and I hope his family can find some solace in the sacrifice he made on behalf of his country. 

Edited to add;

British Army Warrant Officer Class One (WO1) Andy Peat awarded Anders Lassen Award from Crown Prince Frederik.

Some Danish ship modeller video's

Alas, these video's are in Danish, but the visuals are interesting regardless. The first model, Christianus Quintus, is the ship-of-the-line flag ship of Niels Juel. It was built, over a period of twelve years, for Køge musuem by the Køge Maritime activty centre.




The second ship is a famous Danish ship-of-the-line; Dannebrog. It was built over a period of three years by the Orlogs Museum's modelling guild for the Royal Danish Navy, to commemorate the navy's 500 years anniversary.

So many projects, so little time...

...and theres just never enough time any more. Every evening I browse my usual haunts, looking for something to distract my mind whilst I work on which ever project has priority, currently I'm building a 'swamp house' for RM7, and I also have to finish my harbour crane by painting it. Then I have to finish another model house, this one a generic 'American style' wooden house, and also two commercial buildings which feature corrugated metal roofs. Then I have to paint a lot of packing cases which I built to go inside my commercial buildings. Apart from some wooden fence, and brick wall elements which also need painting, I only have to paint twenty odd figures and then I'm ready to start on the models for RM8...

Whilst all this is going on, my Norman Keep is sitting on my window sill, staring at me and any day soon, a client is due to inform me whether a set of drawings I did for her need to be corrected.

So much to do, and now its already 3am!

...which means its the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Already! Its horrific how short a decade is when your at the end of it. Its election time in Denmark at the moment (we vote on thursday) and the polls indicate a change of regime. The socialists stand to resume power, which they haven't had for a decade. I am not a big fan of socialism, in fact I think all ideologies are a curse that only lead to tears, so I'd be happier to see the current government continue. The fact is however, both sides of the political divide here are pro EU so I don't anticipate things are going to get better in Denmark, regardless of who wins, I only anticipate that things will get far worse, under a socialist government.

Jacob Sten Lund Olsen

Jacob Sten Lund Olsen was killed at Gereshk, in Helmand province, Afghanistan on saturday 3rd September.

During a patrol, Lund Olsen and several other Danish soldiers were hit by IED. All were evacuated to Camp Bastion but unfortunately Jacob Sten Lund Olsen died of his injuries.

Jacob Sten Lund Olsen joined the Gardehusar Regiment in August of 2010 at Slagelse. After his initial training he continued in the regiments mechanised infantry company as a rifleman. He was despated to Afghanistan where he joined Bravo Company's second platoon. Jacob Sten Lund Olsen was 22 years old. May he rest in peace and may his family know that his death was not in vain.

Pissing in the wind

Two of Denmarks televison channels raised 110 million kroner in the cause of starving Africans today and a lot of my family and friends on facebook have expressed pride and satisfaction. 110 million kroner is about $21 million US, or £13 million Sterling. Not bad for a small country like ours.

Unfortunately I cannot share the joy, because I no longer believe raising ever larger sums of money to give to the Horn of Africa is going to change anything at all. Denmark alone forks out 15 billion kroner a year on foreign aid and even this collosal amount of money hasn't prevented the people of that blighted region from waging non stop civil wars (with attendant genocides) or from having the planet's highest fertility rates.

If anything I am dejected that a quarter of a century after Live Aid, we still maintain the illusion that throwing alms to the poor is going to solve anything at all. It is especially galling that a significant proportion of the money and food sent to alleviate suffering in the third world, is stolen by corrupt officials in the recipient countries and in the UN, which has degenerated beyond the absurd as a means of solving geopolitical problems. In many cases aid money raised by charity in the west buys the very weaponry and ammunition which is a part of the cause of problems faced by the starving multitude.

A British view of Denmark

'Havhingsten' at 09:35.

Dreams of Scandinavia

The flag is flying at half mast at the Norwegian consulate on Stor torv (the central plaza of Aarhus) and the entrance to the building is barricaded with a small mountain of flowers. Six days since the massacre at Utøya and the news of a Danish casualty is the current head line. Hanne Anette Balch Fjalestad was a 43 year old medic who was on the island with her daughter Anna. Her body was identified in a local hospital and her father was notified. He is quoted at DR; "She died for Norway, and she will be buried in Norway".

I think most Scandinavians are feeling the same these days. Sadness, mixed with anger, confusion, some despair perhaps, but also a little hope for the future. Mass shootings are not uncommon and terrorism seems to have become daily fare, with equal numbers slaughtered on a regular basis in some parts of the world... yet for all that, Norway is almost like a Utopia and one doesn't expect Norwegians to act like this. Everyone I have spoken to has expressed the opinion that the murderer must be insane, because no sane person could carry out such an atrocity, but I'm conflicted on this. Plenty of sane people have carried out mass killing because they believed in what they were doing. I don't know whether insanity in the scientific definition of the word played any part in the murders on Utøya and at Oslo, but plain old fashioned madness certainly did.

I can't really say I am all that surprised that a major terrorist attack finally took place in Scandinavia (there have been so many thwarted already), or even that it was a Norwegian who attacked other Norwegians, (though I was expecting bombings in Sweden against Muslims) ...not after the political climate of the last decade or so. Now the left is predictably accusing the right of having fostered a malignant atmosphere and demanding the right take a share in the responsibility for the attacks, and predictably the right is replying in a similar vein. The truth, which is seldom referred to by ideologues, is that extremism exists every where and in every ideology and the murderer could just have easily justified his actions by reference to any of them.

The best part about living in Scandinavia are the freedoms we have. Any ideology that threatens those freedoms is suspect to my way of thinking and I include all political ideologies as potentially suspicious. I don't care for political parties because they are inherently ideological and I find the idea of political youth organisations to be offensive to my sensibilities. I don't understand why people accept the idea that the political indoctrination of children, however benign it may appear, is of any benefit to a democratic society. It seems to me that political parties foster political elites, and these inbred groups become locked into intractable ideological battles with each other that serve only to cripple democratic choices for the greater population.

My greatest fear for the future and for my children is not multiculture or immigration, by themselves these things are a part of life, but the loss of democratic freedom which I see as the only logical conclusion to the European Union. The EU is ruled by a blinkered political elite whose members were raised, and indoctrinated by ideological youth movements and the EU, with its internal corruption, its lack of democratic accountability, its aggressive attitude towards the sovereignty of its member states and its complete disregard for any poll or referenda which runs counter to its political designs, is the biggest threat to the peace and stability of Scandinavia.

No one but the murderer is responsible for the terror of Utøya, but the political classes, with their reptilian need to adhere to their obsessive ideologies bear the responsibility for the climate of fear and antagonism which has become traditional on Planet Earth.

I expect more terrorism in the near future because none of these ideological groups is going to back down first.

Kalø castle

The castle seen from the causeway

Kalø is the nearest surviving medieval castle to Aarhus and it was the regional centre of power in the early middle ages when the local Jutes rebelled against the authority of the Danish king (it was built in 1313 by King Erik Menved). Mette and the children and I went to visit it today as I was curious to see it and the girls wanted to go to a beach. No one asked Magne what he thought.

The castle today is a mere ruin. The keep still stands, but as a hollowed out, eroded old shell, and around it are the out lines of the secondary buildings, the outer walls and the earth works upon which it all stood. The latter are still in very good condition. The castle stands on an island which was attached to the mainland by a causeway road, roughly half a kilometre in length. The road is still there, but its an ankle breaking nightmare to walk on (especially with small children eating ice cream) and as always when I encouter ancient roads I wonder what they were like when they were new. This one was in appalling condition.

The remains of the gate house and bridge with a view over Kalø Vig

One can get a good impression of the surrounding land by viewing the panoramic views on offer at Panoramas.dk. Kalø Vig is typical Viking country, with a great shallow bay surrounded by fertile farming land and its not hard to think back to the 1300's and imagine what it must have looked like then. Then the castle must have been an impressive sight but today the biggest and most obvious structure is Studstrup Power Station which looms on the western bank of the Vig, gleaming white in the sunlight. Aarhus sits further to the south as you can see on the map below and Studstrup is just about half way between the city and the castle.

The bay of Kalø Vig

The castle island and the cause way


Birds eye view of the castle

At the ruin was a government information placard which detailed planned renovations. I couldn't quite make out if the government was planning to rebuild the castle in its entirety, and had added an illustration of what the castle might eventually come to look like (see above), or were simply undertaking to safe guard the ruins against further erosion and had added an illustration for fun. Either way, the illustration on the placard far exceeded the meager ground plan on the information leaflets (see below) which were available at the nearby parking lot/ice cream stand.


1. Outer moat. Once connected to the sea, this is now two tepid pools of rain water.
2. Previously there was a large farm here, with accomidation for personnel and horses.
3. Inner moat.
4. Gate house
5. Outer courtyard.
6. Toilet.
7. Smithy.
8. Inner courtyard.
9. The lord of the castle's house.
10. Kitchens and ancillary buildings.
11. Living quarters for artisans and the priest
12. Administration building
13. More ancillary buildings, presumably for storage.
14. The keep.

The keep, seen from the gate house with the remains of the lord of the castle's house to the left.

The castle isn't particularly big, but its very interesting, epecially when I compare it to Rochester castle which is older and larger. Kalø pacified a more rural society than Rochester and its size, style and lay out illustrate this. The keep, which dominates the ruin, is far smaller than the keep at Rochester, and for the first time, I have a really good mental impression of just how impressive Rochester must have been when it was built. Walking about the ruins today, with a twentieth century mind, Rochester seems so small as to be absurd, but Kalø is so small its a wonder any one could have lived there (yet historians believe 'several hundred people' might once have lived on the island). Kalø, where the lord of the castle lived in a house rather than inside the keep, really puts Rochester into perspective.

I counted five levels inside the keep, but apart from the obvious, battlements, cellar, etc, I'm not sure what they were. At various times in its history the castle was used to hold important prisoners, and presumably this is where they were kept, so the lowest level, might have been a dungeon I suppose. On the diagram of the castle, building 13 is described in Danish as a cellar, though I could clearly see it rose above ground level, and I wonder if there is more underneath the castle, hidden away from public view. Perhaps a real dungeon lies beneath?

For some reason everything was clad in red brick but the insides of the walls were filled with rocks and mortar, so given how Danish castles usually look, I assume this could just be a matter of style, rather than inadequate building materials. Most of the ruins were clad in sharp edged bricks which looked almost fresh and I think perhaps the ruins have been clad with new bricks at some point, possibly to protect them.

The keep seen from across the inner moat

Currently...

...things are going pretty good, all aspects of life taken into consideration. We just got back from a short holiday on the Danish west coast with Mette's parents and her brother Kristian Momme (aka Uncle Krigga to the kids). I don't have any photographs as I let Kristian do all the shooting and since we all came home, illness has struck most of us down though not me. Presumably I'll get some photo's from Kristian at some point...

Whilst we are at the coast, I forked out a tidy sum on various entertainments for the kids, and was amazed at how expensive everything seems to have become. The local swimming centre charged as much for Magne (2 years old) as for me. Luckily both Magne and Freja enjoyed the place immeasurably so I guess I should look on the bright side.

The local fauna took a great liking to me too. We were only there for a week, but I managed to rack up four ticks and a double tap to the leg from an irritated carpenter wasp. I'm not sure what the wasp was irritated about as I was dozing on my bed when it stabbed me twice through my trousers for no apparent reason. In my indignation I killed it alas, but I wish I hadn't.

The ticks were no big deal though they can carry disease. Freja attends a 'forest kindergarten' so she was used to ticks, and one of the old hands at the kindergarten once told Mette that he'd probably had a thousand ticks in his time, and never suffered any ill effects at all. Given that ticks can carry Lymes Disease, I'm keeping an eye open during the incubation period, but I'm not too concerned, and I found I was almost indifferent to the idea of having my blood sucked. I thought I'm be slightly squeamish but I wasn't concerned in the least. Mette got one a tick on her back and Magne got one on his throat, but Freja remained untouched, despite the fact that she was running about in the undergrowth more than any of us.

Rght now I'm working on a set of drawings which have to be finished ASAP, but nce thats out of the way, I'm hoping to catch up on various unifinished projects!

Alexander Biune

23 year old Konstabel Alexander Biune was killed yesterday morning by an explosion in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was from Charlie Company of the Jydske Dragoon Regiment.

Biune joined the military in February 2010, and he leaves behind his parents, his girl friend and his two younger sisters. Commander of the Danish Battle Group Col. Jens Riis, wrote in his memorial;

"Alexander was a proud example of a soldier, with all the qualities we in the Danish Battle Group desire in all our soldiers. He was eager to do his best and demonstrated a will to make things work as best as possible, to help other people and to excell in all he did. There are none better".

HEAT-1X test flight videos

I'm not sure whether or not the next rocket has already been designed, or whether Fridays test flight means CS will make a brand new design, but this graphic gives an idea of the scale of the next rocket as compared to a Nazi V2;

Ad Astra!

Copenhagen Suborbitals launched their first full test flight of the HEAT-1X rocket yesterday and as you can see from the video below, despite a bit of wobble, she flew!

The orange bit at the top of the rocket is a capsule big enough to carry a human being (it contained a test dummy for this first flight) and the end goal of the project is to carry a man into suborbital space. Reaching suborbital space is far easier than reaching orbit, which is why the rocket does not have to be very big, but its still a monster of a project for private individuals with very little money. The test flight was planned to reach an alttitude of 16km, but early reports indicate the rocket only made it about half way. The parachutes were also a bit faulty, but thats what test flights are for I guess.

A Danish 'rocket expert' has applauded the effort and predicted a Danish rocket may carry a man into suborbital space within a decade... so no dangerous enthusiasm on his part then. I predict a manned flight within four years, but thats because I am an impatient optimist when it comes to space flight.

Liberation Day

Most of Denmark was liberated from German rule on this day in 1945 by British forces commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (the island of Bornholm was liberated by Soviet forces, who remained there for more than a year). To commemorate the day today, a British Lancaster Bomber (presumably B I PA474 of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight as shown below) has over flown cemetaries in Denmark which contain British and Commonwealth pilots who lost their lives fighting Nazi Germany.

Easter again

I dread this holiday, with its unpredictable timing, its seemingly pointless purpose and its lack of any coherent festivity. Every year I go through it, noting how the city literally dies; empty streets, closed shops and only the odd drunkard staggering about to alleviate the monotony, and I feel no sense of holiday or celebration taking place.

I don't begrudge people's right to a few days off, but I wish there was a context beyond some obscure religious myth which so very few people in Denmark observe.

Action of 16 May 1797

Danish air forces are currently engaged in combat operations in Libya, but this is not the first time we've been there. 214 years ago at Tripoli a Danish naval squadron was victorious over a Tripolitan squadron that outnumbered them in terms of the number of vessels. The reason why was simple enough, the Bey of Tripoli, Sidi Yussuf was what is today known as a Barbary pirate, and despite the 'gift ships' with which the Europeans were wont to pay off the Muslim pirates of North Africa, Sidi Yusuf was enslaving Danish merchant sailors anyway (since they were Christians they were fair game for him) so Denmark sent Captain Lorenz Fisker in the heavy frigate Thetis (40 guns) to Tripoli to put a stop to his infernal capers.

The first attempt failed so Captain Steen Andersen Bille (who would one day become Prime Minister of Denmark) was sent in the heavy frigate Najaden (40 guns) along with Captain Charles Christian De Holck in the brig Sarpen (18 guns). At Malta, which was then held by Napoleon, to whom the Danes were allied, the Danish squadron hired a Xebec frigate of six guns and manned it with a crew drawn from their own ships. History doesn't record the name of the Xebec, which is unfortunate as Xebecs are a most interesting ship type. Command of the hired vessel was given to one of Sarpen's officers, a Lieutenant Hans Munck.

The squadron sailed from Malta and made a rendezvous with Thetis off Lampedusa (the island which is currently swamped with immigrants from Tunisia seeking entry into Europe, much to the annoyance of the Italians who own the island). Fisker transferred command of Danish forces in the Mediterranean to Bille and then sailed for home. It must have been frustrating for Bille to watch Fisker leave with the Thetis but he pressed on and on the 16th of May Najaden sailed into the Tripoli harbor and opened fire on the six armed vessels the Danes found there. The Tripolitan forces consisted of the 28-gun xebec Meshuda, two other xebecs of similar size and three smaller vessels.

Although the Danish cannon fire caused extensive casualties among the Tripolitans, they nevertheless managed to get close to the Danish vessels and almost managed to board Najaden. Hoppe's deft maneuvering forestalled defeat. Although the two smaller Danish ships were more of a hindrance than a help, the Tripolitans retreated after two hours. Danish casualties were one killed and one wounded

Captain Bille then blockaded Triploi and effectively stopped its trade. Subsequent negotiations resulted in a peace treaty on 25 May where Denmark agreed to continue to pay tribute, but at a reduced rate and Bille was able to buy the freedom of the Danish prisoners.

A febec frigate of the period

Soldiering On In Gereshk

ISAF 10 returns home

Part 2. Part 3.

I think this is the first time Danish troops have marched through Copenhagen upon their return from abroad, and judging by their rythm, I don't think Kim Jong Il would be impressed, But I am. I would have liked to have seen it. Typially the media largely ignored the event. I guess it only makes the news if Muslims kick up a fuss about it like they did in the UK. Thankfully there was none of that in Copenhagen. A few anti war protestors demonstrated but barely enough to be heard.

750 soldiers made up the Danish contingent of ISAF 10, and despite some heavy combat in Helmand and other regions, only four soldiers were killed (and two died under training prior to being sent).