The Danish Class were a bit troublesome but less so than the Hamburg Class, which were really Shell M Class.
A story about the Denmark from an old shipmate;
from Jim Smith Engineer Officer "
On a nice sunny early May day 1972 in Lisbon in the company of a number of well refreshed engineers we proceeded to join this vessel. As we neared the vessel low and behold we could see a great yellow monster astride the poop. It had four stubby legs and a long silver snout, it was being held in position by great wires. A huge lead came from the aft accommodation and also held the monster. A quick pull on the hipflasks and we could see the legendary words on the monster K O N G. A surge of excitement went through us, they had caught the legendary King Kong of movie fame, albeit it was not big and hairy, but yellow with a long snout was fine.
"We had visions of cruising the African coast exhibiting the monster, what money we would make, permanently overflowing hipflasks, a lady or two and other nice things. As we neared the vessel we could make out further writing on the monster "Kongsberg Gas Turbines" it said,what a let down.
"We got aboard the vessel and met the other engineers who were leaving in a hurry. They muttered words concerning spacial turbo alternators, which in our condition meant new technology afoot.
No wonder men of our calibre had been specially selected to join this vessel, it said so on the letter.
"We got down below agog to see this new alternator and Tommy Copeland 2nd Engineer directed us to it. It was a bloody big empty space. Tommy said we don't have any trouble with it, its the only thing on the ship we don't have any trouble with. It does not give out much power as its in a parallel universe. I started to worry about this vessel.
"Tommy asked if any of us had motor qualifications and I foolishly said I had a class 2 motor and I had been on motor ships in Blue Funnel. He turned me around and there was a banging abortion, The Headless Moron. I started to worry more about this vessel. We were set for a horror story King Kong vs The Headless Moron with us in between. Tommy had a direct approach to engine room management and he said if you have a motor ticket you must know about gas turbines. I will give you the book and you can get on to King Kong in the morning. You look like a fine sober engineer. I was about to dispute these matters when Tommy mentioned he had a bottle or two of four bells and a case of cold ones in his cabin. I decided to postpone any dispute and told him he dripped common sense.
"When I awakened in the morning we were in the middle of the ocean. I went out to inspect King Kong in the cold light of day, I did not like what I saw. It was a great yellow tin box on two axles with four wheels, it had a towing mechanism, over run braking and was restrained on the deck with shaped plating to contour the wheels. It was wired down. A large cable tray was positioned between the box and the aft accommodation with the power and control cables. Central heating piping ran water to a lube oil cooler about the size of my w-lly. I was now distinctly worried about this vessel.
On consulting the tome I was astounded to discover the machine was for Arctic use only.
"All the lights went out and some one in the engine room run up King Kong, I run up as well, up the bloody deck, past the manifold and took cover behind the windlass. With the whining and screaminig I thought I was being chased. With King Kong running the poop deck was like a Heathrow runway.
"As I approached aft on my way back a message came that Tommy wanted me on the Hedemora, it had collapsed. I thought what have I got myself into..."
