HDMS Niels Juel (1918)

Niels Juel circa 1938
History
Denmark
Name	Niels Juel
Namesake	Niels Juel
Builder	Orlogsværftet, Copenhagen
Laid down	21 September 1914
Launched	3 July 1918
Commissioned	23 May 1923
Stricken	29 August 1943
Captured	29 August 1943
Fate	Ran aground, 29 August 1943
Nazi Germany
Name	Niels Juel
Acquired	Refloated, October 1943
Renamed	Nordland
Stricken	3 May 1945
Fate	Sold for scrap, 1952
General characteristics
Type	Coastal defence ship
Displacement	3,800 long tons (3,861 t) (standard)
Length	90 m (295 ft 3 in)
Beam	16.3 m (53 ft 6 in)
Draught	5 m (16 ft 5 in)
Installed power	4 Yarrow boilers 6,000 ihp (4,500 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph)
Range	6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph)
Complement	310–369
Armament	10 × 150 mm (5.9 in) guns 2 × 57 mm (2.2 in) AA guns 2 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 155–195 mm (6.1–7.7 in) Deck: 55 mm (2.2 in) Gun shields: 50 mm (2.0 in) Conning tower: 170 mm (6.7 in) Bulkheads: 165 or 175 mm (6.5 or 6.9 in)

HDMS^{[Note 1]} Niels Juel was a training ship built for the Royal Danish Navy between 1914 and 1923. Originally designed before World War I as a monitor, construction was slowed by the war and she was redesigned as a training cruiser. Completed in 1923 she made training cruises to the Black and Mediterranean Seas, South America and numerous shorter visits to ports in northern Europe. The ship often served as a flagship and occasionally was used as a royal yacht for visits to overseas possessions and other countries.

Niels Juel was extensively modernized in the mid-1930s and remained operational after Nazi Germany occupied Denmark in 1940. When the Germans attempted to seize the Danish Fleet in August 1943, the ship attempted to escape to Sweden, but was attacked and damaged by German bombers. She was deliberately run aground by her crew to deny the ship to the Germans, but Niels Juel was not badly damaged. The ship was refloated several months later and repaired by the Germans. They renamed her Nordland and used her as a training ship. She was scuttled by them in May 1945 and her wreck was salvaged in 1952.
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