Country Denmark Type Special Forces Garrison/HQ Kongsøre | Branch Royal Danish Navy Size 150 | |
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Active June 17, 1957 – present Decoration Presidential Unit Citation Part of Special Operations Command Roles Counter-terrorism, Special operations, Law enforcement, Search and rescue | ||
The Danish Frogmen Corps (Danish: Frømandskorpset) is a frogman corps of the Royal Danish Navy.
Contents
History
This corps was set up on June 17, 1957 based on the model of the British SBS. Initially it was under the Danish Navy's Diving School at Flådestation Holmen (Naval Station Holmen, Copenhagen), but in 1970 it was made an independent unit, operationally under the submarine squadron.
21st century
Today the Danish Frogman Corps is directly under the Special Operations Command.
Role
The Frogmen Corps' primary duty is reconnaissance, but it is also tasked with assaulting enemy ships, sabotage of fixed installations, advanced force and maritime anti-terrorism tasks.
It performs special operations work on land also, including anti-terrorism and anti-criminal work. The Corps supports the police with clearing up criminal matters that demand highly specialised diving. Also, local authorities, etc. can benefit from the frogmen's skills, for example when underwater installations must be inspected.
Training
The Danish Frogmen Corps trains at the Torpedo Station at Kongsøre and works through a long series of courses, e.g.:
The basic Frogman Course is nine months. Each year 500-600 apply to the course and less than a dozen complete all nine months. Since its creation in 1957, 311 have completed the training, and become a Frogman.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark passed selection and completed continuation training to become a badged Frogman, in the course of which he earnt the nickname "Pingo".
Presence in Danish society
The Danish Frogmen Corps policy is to remain unknown.. Members of the Frogmen corps are classified as top secret (yderst hemmelig) and their identities are hidden to the best of their ability.
The Danish Frogmen Corps is very well known for photos and videos that have been shared around social networks, including Reddit, Tumblr and others. One of the more well-known images is a photo taken after a military exercise. In 2015, a DR-produced documentary detailing the life of Frogmen cadets was released.