Dano - Norwegian navy The Royal Danish - Norwegian Navy or Common Fleet , also known simply as the Danish Navy , was the naval force of the united kingdoms Denmark and Norway from 1509 to 12 April 1814 . The fleet was established when the Royal Danish Navy and the Royal Norwegian Navy were combined by King Hans , when he ordered the ships " Engelen " and " Maria " . The common fleet was dissolved when Prince Christian Fredrik established the separate Royal Norwegian Navy on 12 April 1814 , and was thus succeeded by the Royal Danish Navy and the Royal Norwegian Navy , respectively . The Common Fleet was largely funded by the Kingdom of Norway , and for much of its history a large majority of its sailors and officers were Norwegian . The task of the navy . The primary task of the fleet in the first period of its existence was to counter the power of the Hanseatic League and secure control in the Baltic Sea . The fleet was one of the largest in Europe under King Christian IV with 50 - 60 larger battle ships and a large number of defensive ships . In the 17th and 18th centuries during the period of absolutism its primary aim was to control the Strait of Øresund against Sweden . In this period it consisted of 20 ships of the line with an average of 60 guns , plus 20 - 40 frigate s , large enough to counter the Royal Swedish Navy at the time . The number of guns on the ships of the line was smaller than the average number of the great sea powers of the time , but it was partly a deliberate decision of the admiralty , in order to make the ships able to navigate in the countless narrow waters around the Danish isles . The navy was considered to be the King ' s personal property , and " the King ' s waters " consisted of the sea off Norway , Denmark , the Faroe Islands , Iceland and Greenland , large parts of the Baltic , the waters east of the North Cape and off Spitsbergen . For the entire period of its existence its main base was Holmen in Copenhagen , but on different occasions smaller task forces was stationed in Fredriksvern in Norway and in Glückstadt . Navy personnel . In 1679 the fleet ' s regular officers corps consisted of 217 men . Of these 31 % were Dutch , 27 % were Norwegian , 19 % were Danish and the rest were from other nations . In 1709 there were about 15 , 000 personnel enrolled in the common fleet . Of these 10 000 were Norwegian . When Tordenskjold made his famous raid at Dynekil in 1716 , over 80 % of the sailors and 90 % of the soldiers were Norwegian . During peace time most of the navy personnel served in the merchant fleet , which was of a considerable size in the 18th century . The main problem for Denmark - Norway in case of war was thus often to round up the required number of skilled sailors for the navy . The navy was for a large part funded by Norwegian means as a royal resolution dictated that the income from Norway was to be used towards its construction and upkeep . The majority of the ships of the line in the 17th and 18th centuries were named after the royalty of Denmark - Norway , as well as the lands of the kingdoms . At the end of the 18th century it became more common to name them in a national romantic vein , using names from the history of Denmark and from the Old Norse mythology . Ships . " This list is not complete . "