The Danish Navy's frigate Niels Juul, while in the harbor of the Naval Base in Korsol, activated a booster on a Harpoon anti-ship missile, forcing the preventive closure of a part of Denmark's most important Greater Belt Strait, which connects the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, the theater military website reported at 1:35 p.m. on April 4.
The Danish Armed Forces stated: The police and the Danish Maritime Authority have informed that ships in the direction of the danger zone are being notified and ask to wait for the problem to be resolved. The airspace over the danger zone has also been closed.
At the same time, the Danish Maritime Authority also issued a warning, asking ships to avoid the affected part of the Great Belt Strait, citing the risk of "missile fragments falling", and asking ships to drop anchor if necessary.
According to the Danish armed forces, the "technical problems" with the Harpoon missile of the frigate Nils Juul arose as a result of testing, and the missile's launcher, missile booster was activated and cannot be deactivated at the moment.
The frigate F363 "Nils Yule" is an "Ivor Whitfeldt" class frigate with a length of 138 meters, a width of 19.8 meters, and a full load displacement of 6,540 tons. The main shipborne armaments are two 76mm single-barreled naval guns, one 35mm cannon-type shipborne short-range defense weapon system, and two four-pack "Harpoon" anti-ship missile launchers.
The ship is equipped with four 8-unit MK-41 VLS installations, capable of vertically firing 32 "Standard"-2 Block IIIA long-range anti-aircraft missiles, and 12 two-unit MK-56 VLS installations, capable of vertically launching 24 RIM-162 improved "Sea Sparrow" (ESSM) medium-range anti-aircraft missiles.
At present, the Danish Navy has a total of three $325 million "Iver Whitfeldt"-class frigates, all of which entered service with the Royal Danish Navy in 2011. Among them, the frigate F362 "F. Whitfeldt" participated in escorting ships in the Red Sea and other waters to help protect commercial ships traveling to and from the Red Sea from Houthi missiles and drones, and to ensure the smooth flow of trade lanes in the area.
On March 9, during a fierce exchange with the Houthis, problems between the two Dutch APAR radars of the frigate F. Whitfeldt and the Danish C-FLEX battle management system (CMS) prevented the ship from firing ESSM missiles.
At the moment of danger, the frigate "F. Whitfeldt" used two 76mm "Otto Melera" single-barreled naval guns, and fired a large number of 76mm shells, even half of which had ammunition, and before it touched the target, the "2005 proximity fuse" detonated the shells in the air in advance, and it was relatively close to the ship.
After repairing the malfunction of the battle management system, three ESSM medium-range anti-aircraft missiles and about 100 rounds of 76mm artillery shells fired from the frigate "F. Whitfeldt" intercepted and destroyed a total of four Houthi drones.
The frigate F362 "F. Whitfeldt" intercepted and destroyed four Houthi drones with anti-aircraft missiles and 76mm shells, which can be called a major achievement since its participation in the Red Sea escort operation.
However, behind this victory, it is difficult to hide the failure, that is, the Danish Navy's main combat ship "F. Whitfeldt", during the escort in the Red Sea, exposed serious problems such as air defense system failures and ammunition quality, which somewhat affected the reputation of the Danish Navy.
In this regard, Danish Defense Minister Trolls Lund Poulsen made the following decisions in anger: First, he decided to end the Red Sea tour of the frigate "F. Whitfeldt" ahead of schedule and urgently recall it to China for repairs.
The second is to remove Fleming Lentever from his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Danish Armed Forces and appoint General Mikael Hildegard as Acting Commander-in-Chief of the Danish Armed Forces.