HDMS Elephanten [1] [2] was an 18th-century ship-of-the-line in the Dano-Norwegian navy that was built at Nyholmen in Copenhagen by Laurent Barbé[3] and ornamentation by J.Wiedewelt.[4]
A model of this ship's figurehead can be seen at the Royal Danish Naval Museum and also a model of the stern galleries in full colour.
The design of the ship-of-the-line which would become Elephanten was produced by Barbé as part of a competition between him and another French shipbuilder, du Chemin, before the appointment of the new master shipbuilder to the Danish fleet. Barbé's employment dated from 6 May 1740,[3] by which time construction of the new ship had already started! Even during construction, Elephanten gave cause for concern about the structure of the keel - which was put down to faulty construction rather than faulty design. In the end, Elephanten proved to be an excellent ship and the technical drawings set the standard for future work. [3] Elephanten's sistership, Nellebladet (1746), was built to the same design plan.[5]
Elephanten was decommissioned in 1760 and broken up the same year.