Name Hvidbjørnen In service 30 November 1992 Launched 11 October 1991 Beam 14 m | Laid down 2 January 1991 Construction started 2 January 1991 Length 112 m | |
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Armament 1 x 76-mm 62-cal. OTO Melara Super Rapid DP 7 x 12.7 mm heavy machine guns 4 x 7.62 mm light machine guns1 x depth charge rack and MU90 Advanced Lightweight Torpedo for anti-submarine warfare | ||
HDMS Hvidbjørnen (Hvidbjørnen is older Danish for polar bear) is a Thetis-class ocean patrol vessel belonging to the Royal Danish Navy.
Service
Hvidbjørnen served as a platform for Commander Danish Task Group from 1998 to 2002, whereafter her sister ship Thetis assumed the role.
During a patrol in the waters of the Faroe Islands, the French trawler Bruix (c/s: FTID) was suspected of illegal fishing. When approached by Hvidbjørnen the French trawler refused to let an inspection team aboard and started to sail towards the territorial border. During the chase the two ships collided (no persons injured).
Hvidbjørnen and Ejnar Mikkelsen participated with Danish air elements in sovereignty and Search and Rescue exercises off Greenland's west coast in 2009. The vessels' patrol took them to the Nares Strait, close to Hans Island, the approaches to the Northwest Passage, and to Lancaster Sound. In Lancaster Sound they joined in a Search and Rescue exercise with the Canadian Coast Guard vessel the CCGS Henry Larsen.