Danish Navy commissions third Knud Rasmussen-class patrol vessel

The Royal Danish Navy will commission its third and final Knud Rasmussen-class patrol vessel, HDMS Lauge Koch (P572) at Naval Station Korsør this week.

Lauge Koch will join its predecessors to patrol the North Atlantic performing fisheries inspections, search and rescue and ice-breaking tasks.

Lauge Koch does not have a helicopter hangar, but a helipad will allow it to refuel helicopters operating from the shore or from other Danish Navy vessels.

Knud Rasmussen-class patrol vessels are armed with a single 76mm gun and heavy machine guns but they have two StanFlex mission payload slots allowing them to be equipped with anti-submarine and anti-air warfare capabilities.

The 71-metre-long ships were built by Danish shipyard Karstensens Skibsværft.

The hulls for all three vessels were built in Poland and transferred to Denmark for outfitting.

The first two vessels, HDMS Knud Rasmussen and HDMS Ejnar Mikkelsen entered service in 2008 and 2009. Lauge Koch was ordered in 2013.

Knud Rasmussen-class patrol vessels are replacing the three Agdlek-class cutters, the last of which retired on November 30.