A Danish training ship collided with the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul (LCS-21) in the Baltimore Inner Harbor on Sept. 11 during Maryland Fleet Week.
A Navy statement said the Danish training ship Danmark “made contact with the moored LCS while the Danish ship was getting underway from the Baltimore Inner Harbor.” Both ships were taking part in Maryland Fleet Week and Flyover Baltimore.
The service underscored that no U.S. Navy personnel were injured and “no serious damage sustained” onboard LCS-21.
A Navy spokesperson told Defense Daily that the Danmark specifically made contact with LCS-21 on the starboard bow at the life line, “collapsing two sections of life lines and and leaving cosmetic scrapes below the deck edge.” The Navy reiterated the Minneapolis-St. Paul sustained no serious damage.
Information on any repairs was not available at this time and the Navy told Defense Daily LCS-21 planned to get underway on Sept. 13 as scheduled.
According to several videos of the collision, including one posted to the website of the local Fox45 News Baltimore station, the aft edge of the Danmark collided with the tip of the bow of the Minneapolis-St. Paul while the former was being moved by a tugboat.
Video from @cdegliomini on the deck of the USS Minneapolis Saint Paul when the Danmask sailing ship was pulled into the USS Minneapolis by two tugs @ close of Fleet Week pic.twitter.com/dH00XzIkAD
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) September 11, 2022
The most obvious damage in the video is to the sailing ship and not the steel-hulled Freedom-variant LCS.
Danmark is a 252 feet-long full-rigged sailing ship owned by the Danish Maritime Authority that also features diesel engine capable of 9 knots. The vessel was first launched in 1932 as a training ship, primarily for the Danish merchant marine.
It stopped in Baltimore in 1939 and was visiting the U.S. when Germany invaded Denmark, requiring the ship to stay in the U.S. for the rest of World War II. During the war, the Danmark trained thousands of U.S. sailors.