Naval development and strategic culture. Why Denmark decided to build frigates after the Cold War

This dissertation investigate why Danish politicians decided to procure frigates during the 1990s when Denmark for the first time for century and half did not face any existential threat. This question it relevant for mainly two reasons.

Firstly, during the Cold War frigates had been political controversial, due to their high operational costs and furthermore perceived by certain political parties as offensive and military provocative. This eventually led to the decommission of the Navy’s frigates in 1980s. Therefore, as the Cold War ended there was no indication that frigates would return into the Danish Navy.

Secondly, for the Danish Navy, frigates had a particular important role. During the Cold War, as the future of the frigates was discussed, the Navy maintained their importance to the defence of the Danish shores in case of war. For this reason, the decommission of the frigates in 1986 came as a strategic and operational blow to the Navy.

To explain the reintroduction of frigates into the Danish Navy, this dissertation departs from the concept of strategic culture. It first examines the defence sceptical, political strategic subculture – cosmopolitism. Cosmopolitism gained an increased political influence during the 1980s which eventually led to the decommission of the frigates. Another consequence of cosmopolitism was the introduction of the STANDARD FLEX ship building concept which became a huge success for the navy. The concept enabled the navy to apply a justification discourse for future procurements closer to the navy’s coast guard duties, than to its wartime task, without compromising its own naval strategic culture.

The dissertation establish that the Danish naval strategic culture is a warfighting culture focused to offensive actions and decisive battle at sea. A strategic culture in opposition to cosmopolitism. What the STANDARD FLEX ship building concept offered was to address and satisfy both cultures at the same time.

As the Cold War ended cosmopolitism’s discourse changed. It was still sceptical towards the use of force, especially at sea. While the Balkan Wars had demonstrated the need for main battle tanks and fighter aircraft it had not demonstrated a need for a warfighting capable frigate. Instead warships was used to support different maritime crises response operations. What the STANDARD FLEX concept provided was to suggest a patrol ship dedicated to such tasks. What it further offered was a warfighting platform with strong similarities to a frigate. Similar to the 1980s the STANDARD FLEX concept had addressed and satisfied both cosmopolitism and the naval strategic culture with the consequence that frigates returned into navy- but as patrol ships.