The Frogman Corps was established on 17 June 1957 based on the model of the United Kingdom'sSpecial Boat Service,[5] USUnderwater Demolition Team, andMarinejegerkommandoen in Norway. Initially it was under the Danish Navy's Diving School at Flådestation Holmen (Naval Station Holmen,Copenhagen), but in 1972 it was made an independent unit, operationally under the submarine squadron.[6][7]
The Frogman Corps' primary role is reconnaissance,[8] but it is also tasked with assaulting enemy ships, sabotage of fixed installations, advance force and maritime anti-terrorism tasks.[9]
It also performs special operations work on land, including anti-terrorism and anti-criminal work. The Frogman Corps support 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.
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 as of 2015[update].[11]
King Frederik X of Denmark passed selection and completed continuation training to become a badged Frogman, in the course of which he earned the nickname "Pingo", when hisdrysuit filled with water and he was forced to waddle like a penguin.[12][13]
In 2015, aDR-produced documentary detailing the life of Frogman cadets was released.[14]
The Frogman Corps were involved in operations in Afghanistan, such asTask Force K-Bar, and in Iraq.[15]
From 2008 until the end of 2014, the Frogman Corps was involved incounter-piracy operations as part ofOperation Ocean Shield.[15] On 5 February 2010, ten Frogman Corps members aboardHDMS Absalon (L16) conducted acounter-piracy mission in theGulf of Aden approaching theAntigua and Barbuda-flagged merchant vesselAriella by rigid hull inflatable boat which had been hijacked by six armed Somali pirates.[16][17] 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 fled.[17]
In November 2021, a unit from the Frogman Corps was involved in counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Guinea deployed aboard theRoyal Danish Navy frigateHDMSEsbern Snare (F342). On 25 November 2021, soldiers from the unit were involved in a firefight with eight suspected pirates aboard a fast-moving craft where four suspects were killed and one wounded and the surviving three were captured. The soldiers suffered nocasualties.[18]
^abc"Facts and Figures"(PDF).Danish Defence. The Danish Armed Forces. February 2011. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 30 April 2019. Retrieved13 September 2017.
^ab"Frømandskorpset - About".Facebook (in Danish). This is the official Facebook site of the Danish Naval Special Warfare Group (Frogman Corps). Retrieved17 June 2017.
^Nielsen, Mads Korsager (25 November 2021)."Fire dræbt efter ildkamp med Frømandskorpset" [Four killed after firefight with Frogman Corps].DR.dk (in Danish).Archived from the original on 24 January 2024. Retrieved4 November 2025.
Denmark
Royal Danish Navy
_trains_trains_aboard_USS_Vella_Gulf_(CG_72).jpg)
_conduct_VBSS_training_aboard_USS_Vella_Gulf_(CG-72).jpg)
_boards_USS_Vella_Gulf_(CG_72).jpg)
_conduct_VBSS_training_aboard_USS_Vella_Gulf_(CG-72).jpg)
