MS Hans Hedtoft was a Danish cargo passenger liner that struck an iceberg and sank on 30 January 1959 on her maiden voyage off the coast of Western Greenland.

The ship was armed with three 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, on the orders of the Danish Ministry of Defence (MoD).

[6] The ship had 40 crew, 55 passengers and a cargo of frozen fish on board[1] and in addition to that 3.25 tons of archives concerning Greenlandic history.

[5] The next day, Hans Hedtoft collided with an iceberg about 35 nautical miles (65 km) south of Cape Farewell, the southernmost point of Greenland.

However, due to rough seas, floating ice, dwindling daylight and generally bad visibility they were unable to reach the position provided by Hans Hedtoft before she sank later that afternoon.

Johannes Krüss, commanded by Kapitän Albert Sierck, after a dangerous voyage in the ice-filled stormy waters, is believed to have made it to the position of Hans Hedtoft only a few minutes after her sinking, but was unable to find any survivors under the extremely difficult conditions.

[10] On 31 January, USCGC Campbell reported that conditions were worse than anything the ship had seen while on transatlantic convoy duty during World War II, and there was no sign of Hans Hedtoft or her passengers and crew.

[6] The only piece of wreckage ever recovered was a lifebuoy which washed ashore on Iceland and was discovered on 7 October 1959, some nine months after the ship sank.

[15] On 30 January 2005, Queen Margrethe unveiled a monument at North Atlantic Wharf, Copenhagen, to the 95 people lost on Hans Hedtoft.