Fordklasser

The Fordklasser is a ship-of-the-line class of sailing warships built by T. Mewes & Co. in Frederikshavn, Denmark, for the Royal Danish Navy. The four ships were designed by Edward B. Kirkham and built between 1878 and 1880. The class comprised four vessels: København, Frederikskjold, Valkyrien, and Helsingør.

The Fordklasser ships were 85.6 meters long overall, had a beam of 15.1 meters, and a draught of 6.8 meters. They were armed with eleven muzzle-loading wrought iron 238-millimeter guns and had a crew of 740 men. The ships were designed to be faster and more maneuverable than their British contemporaries, possessing a top speed of 13 knots (24 km/h) and a turn radius of 32 meters compared to 45 meters for British ships of the same era.

The Fordklasser ships were among the last sailing warships built by Denmark. Although they were faster and more maneuverable than their contemporaries, they were heavily influenced by British ship-designing principles. However, the Royal Danish Navy shifted focus towards building lighter and more maneuverable warships as the Danish-British War broke out. Despite being designed for the pre-dreadnought navy, the Fordklasser ships soon saw action during the war and demonstrated a somewhat uneven performance.

The Fordklasser ships were active for only a short time before being replaced by more modern warships. They were eventually retired from the Royal Danish Navy and are no longer in existence. Little information exists about their specific fates after retirement.