Historical Background

When the Danish winter sets in, and the Belts freeze over, it does not take long before the ice in the Great Belt creates problems for passing ships despite the density of the traffic and the size of modern vessels.

Dramatic are the descriptions of people who have risked their lives and limbs over the years in attempts to cross the Great Belt when ordinary ships have had to give up because of the ice. The Danish State Railways, the DSB, were fully aware of the difficulties that their ferries could encounter in hard winters.

In connection with the Great Belt crossing, the DSB had taken the far-sighted decision to have the shipyard Burmeister & Wain build an ice-breaker by the name of STAERKODDER in 1883. It was not a large ship, and it had a length of 50 metres, a displacement of 600 tonnes and - what is quite as important - an engine of 600 horsepower. The ice-breaker STAERKODDER could carry 400 passengers, and the crossing took more than three hours.

The ice-breaker STAERKODDER was followed by the ice-breakers MJOELNER and THOR in 1890, and the ice-breakers TYR and JYLLAND in 1894. The last ice-breaker that was delivered to the DSB was HOLGER DANSKE in 1942.

Other Danish ice-breakers over the years:

ISBJOERN (1923-1965)
LILLEBJOERN (1926-1968)
STOREBJOERN (1931-1974)
ELBJOERN (1952-), laid up at the Frederikshavn Naval Station in northern Jutland
DANBJOERN and ISBJOERN (delivered 1965/1966 from Odense Steel Shipyard)
THORBJOERN (delivered from Svendborg Shipyard in 1980).

 
The Ice Service Today

At the turn of the year 1995/1996, the Ice Service was transferred to the Royal Danish Navy at short notice, and it soon became clear that the responsibility for this service was to begin with the launching of the first "full scale" ice campaign since the winter of 1986/1987.

As part of the Finance Act 1996 and the Ministry of Defence Organisation Agreement 1995-1999, it was decided politically to transfer the Ice Service from the Ministry of Trade and Industry to the Ministry of Defence.

The Ice Service was transferred to the Ministry of Defence on 1 January 1996 . The day-to-day management of the Ice Service was transferred to the Royal Danish Navy Tactical Command and hence the responsibility for the ice-reporting service and the management of the ice-breakers during ice-campaigns. The responsibility for the equipment and logistics was transferred to the Royal Danish Navy Material Command.