3rd Galathea Expedition 2006-07:

Preparations well underway for the
3rd Galathea Expedition

The offshore patrol frigate VÆDDEREN will be the maritime platform for a number of scientists and researchers on the third Galathea Expedition round the world

Due to the international tensions against Denmark the planned route has been altered and wil now take the expedition on a trip south of Africa.

By Johnny E. Balsved

For the third time a ship of the Royal Danish Navy will act as the maritime platform for a Danish scientific expedition around the world.

The offshore patrol frigate VÆDDEREN will be the floating base for a number of Danish and foreign scientists and researchers when the third Galathea Expedition are planned to take place from August 2006 thru April 2007.

The offshore patrol frigate VÆDDEREN is being refitted (February 2006)
at the Karstensens Ship Yard in Skagen.
(Photo: Johnny E. Balsved)

Ship being prepared

At this moment the VÆDDEREN resides at Karstensens Ship Yard in Skagen, Northern Jutland, to be refitted from being an active offshore patrol frigate to primarily a scientific platform.

Laboratories, store rooms and scientific equipment should be installed, and accomodations for the scientist, media people and students should be organized.

The VÆDDEREN must be considered as a wise choice for this round the world expedition, and it is not the first time this ship will visit places far away form its normal waters. South Africa and the Far East have previously been the destination for this ship commissioned with the navy in 1992.

3rd Galathea Expedition

In spite of the name of the ship, VÆDDEREN, the expedition is named the 3rd Galathea Expedition. The first two around the world expeditons were both carried out by Danish naval vessels, named GALATHEA.

The 1st Galathea Expedition was performed by the corvette GALATHEA from 1845-47. The main purpose of this expedition was the hand over of the former Dansih colonies in India and the last Danish attempt to try to colonize the Nicobar Islands.

During the circum navigation of the world the corvette also performed quite a number of scientific task on the two years tour.

The main purpose of the 2nd expedition was a deep sea exploration of the oceans. The former British sloop, HMS LEITH, now named GALATHEA was aguired for this purpose.

From 1950 to 1952 the survey ship carried out a number of scientic deep sea explorations, reaching for the first time, deepths of more than 10,000 meters.

The corvette GALATHEA (1833-1861). (Photo from the Royal Danish Naval Museum)

The frigate GALATHEA (1949-1954). (Photo from the Royal Danish Naval Museum)

When the VÆDDEREN departs Copenhagen in August 2006, the ship will beside the normal naval crew also accomodates a number of Danish and foreign scientists and researchers.

Each scientist and researcher have on before hand planned for different scientific experiments and researches to be carried out underway, all approved by the Danish Expedition Foundation.

Classroom Training

The expedition is not only planned as a sole scientific expedition, but will serve as an online classroom training for students etc. in Dansh high schools and elimentary schools.

On board the ship will be a number of media consultants and teachers arranging online communciation directly into Danish classrooms via satelite and internet communication, so students will be able to follow the round the world trip minute by minute and testing natural science directly.

Furthermore, school classes are invited to join parts of the trip to actively participate in the expedition.

Royal Patron

HrH Crown Prince Frederik is the Royal Patron for the Danish Expediton Foundation, which handles the planning and implementation of the third Galathea expedition. The Crown Pince, a Commander s.g. in the Royal Danish Navy, has experience from expeditions himself. In 1986 and 1990, the Crown Prince partici-pated in two expeditions to Central Asia, and in 2000, HrH went on a 2,800 km journey by dog sled across North Greenland, Expediton Sirius 2000. The Crown Prince has also completed the full training as an elite frogman in the RDN Frogmens Corps. Another member of the royal family, Frederik VIII's nephew Prince Axel, participated in the planning of 2nd Galathea expedition (1950-1952) in his capacity of chairman of the Danish Deep Sea Expedition.

Commander s.g., HrH Crown Prince Frederik. (Photo from The Danish Expedition Foundation)

Route has been altered

The expedition will start out from Copenhagen in August 2006 visiting the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Africa, Australia, South and North America and the US Virgin Islands, the former Danish West Indies.

Initially the expedition was planned to take a route through the Mediterranian area and the Suez Canal, followed up by visits to amongst other the former Danish colonies at Tranquebar in India and the Nicobar Islands.

Due to the present international tensions between Danmark and part of the Muslim societies the route has been altered, and wil now take the expedition on a trip south of Africa, thereby following the initial route of the first two Galathea expeditions in stead

From Cape Town the ship will sail directly to Darwin in Australia, of course performing a number of scientific explorations underway.

The revised routing map for the 3rd Galathea Expedition.
(Map from The Danish Expedition Foundation)

^{|To the Top}

4Half-way on the Galathea Expedition - 12/12/2006

4 3rd Galathea Expedition (2006-07) - 12/12/2006

43rd Galathea Expedition 2006-07 - 02/27/2006

4 VÆDDEREN refitted (2006) - 02/27/2006

^{|To the Top}

- Do you miss a major event on this Site,
or do you hold a great story?

Are you able to contribute to the unfolding of the Danish Naval History,
please e-mail me, enclosures are welcome.
Please remember to list your sources.

You can also use the Naval Web Forum on this web-site.

^{|To the Top}

-

This page was last updated: -

This page was first published: February 27, 2006

Copyright © 2013-2016 Johnny E. Balsved - All rights reserved - Privacy Policy