Frogman Corps (Denmark)


The Frogman Corps is the maritime special operations force of the Danish Defence part of Special Operations Command. On 1 July 2015, the Frogman Corps transferred from the Royal Danish Navy to the newly established Special Operations Command.

History

The Frogman Corps was established on 17 June 1957 based on the model of the United Kingdom Royal Marines Special Boat Company, US Underwater Demolition Team, and Marinejegerkommandoen, in Norway. Initially it was under the Danish Navy's Diving School at Flådestation Holmen, but in 1972 it was made an independent unit, operationally under the submarine squadron.

Role

The Frogman Corps' primary role is reconnaissance, but it is also tasked with assaulting enemy ships, sabotage of fixed installations, advanced force and maritime anti-terrorism tasks.
It also performs special operations work on land, including anti-terrorism and anti-criminal work. The Corps supports the police with matters that demand highly specialised diving. Local authorities, etc. can also benefit from the frogmen's skills, for example when underwater installations must be inspected.

Training

The Frogman 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 applicants start the course and less than a dozen complete all nine months. Since its creation in 1957, 311 have completed the training and become frogmen.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark passed selection and completed continuation training to become a badged Frogman, in the course of which he earned the nickname "Pingo".
In 2015, a DR-produced documentary detailing the life of Frogman cadets was released.

Operations

The Frogman Corps was involved in operations in Afghanistan such as Task Force K-Bar and in Iraq.
From 2008 until the end of 2014, the Frogman Corps was involved in counter-piracy operations as part of Operation Ocean Shield. On 5 February 2010, ten Frogman Corps members aboard HDMS Absalon
conducted a counter-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden approaching the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged merchant vessel Ariella by rigid hull inflatable boat which had been hijacked by six armed Somali pirates. They scaled the side of the ship and freed the 25 crew, who had locked themselves in a secure room, and continued to search the vessel for the pirates who had however fled.

Equipment