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Royal Navy returns Historic Bell to Denmark
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PMarione
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Post Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:39 pm    Post subject: Royal Navy returns Historic Bell to Denmark Reply with quote

London September 3, 2007
The Royal Navy has formally handed back to the Royal Danish Navy the bell of a Danish battleship captured at Copenhagen 200 years ago.
At a ceremony in the Museum of the Royal Danish Navy in Copenhagen, Vice Admiral Paul Boissier, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fleet, formally returned the bell of the 80-gun warship King Christian VII to the head of the Royal Danish Navy, Rear Admiral Nils Wang. Among those attending the ceremony were HRH Prince Joachim of Denmark and the British Ambassador, His Excellency Mr David Frost.
During the Napoleonic Wars, Nelson's victory at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 was followed six years later by a naval action designed to maintain Britain's national survival and naval supremacy - the capture of the Danish fleet.
The Baltic States were, for Britain, an essential source of the timber that she needed to build and maintain her navy, and the Danish fleet, stationed in Copenhagen, had absolute control over the trade.
Denmark was a neutral state, but the British Government feared that a secret agreement had been made in the summer of 1807 that meant the Danish fleet could be handed over to France. Those fears were further fuelled by signs of unusual activity in the naval base at Copenhagen, and so the British Prime Minister put together an enormous force, designed specifically to prevent the Danish Navy from falling into French hands.
The result was the seizure of the Danish ships, and a controversial bombardment of Copenhagen in which thousands of Danes died. Among the ships that the British force captured was a relatively new 80-gun warship - the King Christian VII.
Vice Admiral Boissier said:
Quote:
It is a mark of the skill of the Danish shipbuilders that many of the ships that Britain took had good sea-keeping qualities, and saw a considerable amount of successful service with the Royal Navy. The King Christian VII was no exception; she kept her name and remained in active service until 1814, before being converted into a hospital ship for the next 25 years.
The ship was also used as a design template for a further ship that was built in the UK. But it was because of her role as a hospital ship that her bell eventually found its way into the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar near Portsmouth, where it hung for over 150 years.
Denmark is now, and has been for many years, a close friend of Britain. Two hundred years after the 1807 action, Danish troops now serve in Afghanistan alongside British servicemen and women of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army and RAF.
Today I have the privilege of returning this bell to its original home. It connects us all directly with the events of 1807; it reminds us of the desperate pressures of the Napoleonic Wars and of the courage and resilience of the people of this great city of Copenhagen. It symbolises our shared history, our common links, our enduring friendship and it is a lasting memorial to a proud ship-of-the line, and the men, both Danish and British, who sailed and fought in her.


The 200th anniversary has also been commemorated at several other ceremonies in Denmark involving the Royal Navy assault ship HMS Albion and a Royal Marine Band.
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