The geographic layout of Denmark proper (not including Greenland and the Faroe Islands) has a coastline to land area ratio of 1:5.9.

[4] Denmark therefore naturally has long-standing maritime traditions, dating back to the 9th century when the Vikings had small but well-organised fleets.

With time, the defence pacts gave rise to larger, more offensive fleets which the Vikings used for plundering coastal areas.

Queen Margaret I, who had just founded the Kalmar Union (consisting of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney, parts of Finland and parts of Germany) ordered the building of a navy – mainly to defend the union against the Hanseatic League.

In the 15th century, especially during the reign of King Hans, Danish trade expanded appreciably, increasing the need for the delivery of merchandise.

King Hans is credited with establishing a joint Dano-Norwegian fleet in 1509, substantially increasing the number of professional crewmembers.

The number of bases, yards and vessels rose rapidly and substantial resources were used for new ship designs, weaponry, training and battle tactics.

Sweden, which had become an independent country, dominated a large part of the Baltic Sea and threatened Danish merchant interests.

In 1712, Tordenskjold succeeded in burning 80 Swedish naval cruisers, which played a large part in the outcome of the Great Nordic War (1709–1720).

A permanent naval presence of shifting strength was maintained in the Mediterranean Sea – protecting Danish-Norwegian interests in the region – mainly commerces against piracy.

Some of the more notable can be said to be: the Mediterranean Squadron's bombardment of Algiers in 1770 under the command of rear admiral Frederik Christian Kaas; the then captain, and future Privy Councillor, Steen Andersen Bille's action at Tripoli in 1797; and commander Hans Georg Garde in a joint Scandinavian expedition in 1844 – which effectively ended the Barbary states' attacks on Scandinavian merchants in the region.

A pact of neutrality was made between Denmark (including Norway) and Sweden, providing a solid basis for commercial expansion.

The defence line, under the command of Olfert Fischer, put up a fierce fight, but was defeated, with the loss of 3 ships sunk and 12 captured.

By the outbreak of World War I (1914), the Danish navy was a very modern fleet, mainly equipped with armoured steam ships and only a very few sailing ships.[which?]

This was due to a secret order, given directly to the captains by word of mouth by commander of the navy, Vice Admiral A. H. Vedel "to try to flee to the nearest neutral or Nazi-opposed port.

[8][9] The fleet flagship, Niels Juel, attempted to break out in the Battle of Isefjord but the crew was forced to beach and partly scuttle her.

During the Cold War, the Danish navy was rebuilt and modernised, with the main assignment being to repel an invasion from the Warsaw Pact.

Typical operations requiring training were minelaying (the now disbanded minelayers of the Falster class (17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph), 2,000 GRT), were the world's largest minelayers at their time – each had a complement of 280 900 kg mines) and sting attacks with small but fast combat craft (such as the Søløven-class fast torpedo boats (54 kn (100 km/h; 62 mph), 158 GRT) and Willemoes-class missile torpedo boats (45 kn (83 km/h; 52 mph), 260 GRT) and a self-sustaining mobile missile battery (MOBA) equipped with targeting and guidance, capable of firing Harpoon missiles.

In case of war all Danish combat vessels were assigned to NATO's Allied Forces Baltic Approaches's naval command NAVBALTAP.

The funding is expected to be committed to programs that will roll out to ship commissioning over a 20 to 25 year period, and is a part of the government of Denmark's recent publicly stated plan to increase defence spending to two percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

Danish Task Group was created to expand Denmark's level of competency and quality of material, by participating in international maritime operations.

The first would have been used to mine all sealanes and potential landings beaches, while the latter would have harassed the enemy fleet with continuous hit and run attacks.

This agreement made the Ark Project responsible for the strategic sealift of Danish and German armed forces where the full-time charter of three roll-on-roll-off cargo and troop ships are ready for deployments.

Aviation pioneer Robert Svendsen purchased the first aircraft, a Henry Farman, and gave it to the navy who subsequently named it Glenten (kite).

Later the same year, a private funding effort made it possible to purchase two Donnet-Leveque flying boats named Maagen (gull) and Ternen (tern).

[20] In 1932, the navy purchased its first offensive capacity, two Hawker Horsley torpedo bombers with an option to produce a following series on the Orlogsværft.

After four years of testing and practice, the naval air service had agreed to expand the offensive capacities with the Horsley, but at this time funding from the Danish government had been cut and no further torpedo bombers were acquired.

[20] In the late 1930s, the government changed plans and increased the budget for military purchases following the German expansions in central Europe.

The independent unit was established in 1977 as "Søværnets Flyvetjeneste" operating (Aérospatiale Alouette III (1977–1982) and Westland Lynx (1980–2018) helicopters.

[21] On 6 December 2012, the Royal Danish Air Force officially ordered nine MH-60R Seahawk helicopters, with all delivered in 2018,[22] following a competition on the procurement involving the NH90, AgustaWestlands AW159 Wildcat and the AW101 along with Sikorsky's other bid H-92 Superhawk.