HDMS Rolf Krake (1863)

HDMS Rolf Krake was a turret ship built for the Royal Danish Navy in 1863. She was designed by Cowper Phipps Coles, a British naval captain and inventor of the turret, and built by Robert Napier and Sons in Glasgow, Scotland. She is notable as one of the earliest examples of a turret ship and played a significant role in the Second Schleswig War of 1864.

The Rolf Krake was armed with four 68-pounder smoothbore guns mounted in two revolving turrets. Her low freeboard and shallow draft made her well-suited for operating in the shallow waters of the Danish coast. The ship's armor consisted of 4.5 inches of wrought iron backed by wood.

During the Second Schleswig War, Rolf Krake proved effective in providing fire support for Danish land forces and disrupting Prussian and Austrian operations. She bombarded enemy positions along the coast of Als and Funen, and her maneuverability allowed her to engage enemy ships and fortifications from a variety of angles. Despite facing enemy fire, Rolf Krake sustained minimal damage during the conflict.

After the war, Rolf Krake remained in service with the Danish Navy for several decades. She underwent several modernizations, including the replacement of her smoothbore guns with rifled breech-loading guns and the addition of torpedo tubes. She was eventually decommissioned in 1907 and scrapped in 1908. Rolf Krake is remembered as a pioneering warship that demonstrated the potential of turret ships and influenced naval design for decades to come.