{{Short description|Danish naval officer}} {{hatnote|For the ships of the same name, see HDMS Olfert Fischer}} {{Infobox military person | name = Olfert Fischer | honorific_suffix = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1747|8|4|df=y}} | birth_place = Copenhagen, Denmark | death_date = {{Death date and age|1829|2|18|1747|8|4|df=y}} | death_place = Copenhagen, Denmark | burial_place = Reformed Church | image = Olfert Fischer.jpg | signature = | signature_size = | caption = Lithograph of Fischer | nickname = | allegiance = Denmark–Norway | branch = Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy | service_years = | rank = Vice admiral | commands = | unit = | battles = {{Tree list}} * '''War of the Second Coalition''' ** Battle of Copenhagen {{Tree list/end}} | awards = | relations = Olfert Fas Fischer (father) | other_work = | spouse = | children = }}
Vice-Admiral '''Johan Olfert Fischer''' (4 August 1747 – 18 February 1829) was a Danish naval officer. He commanded the Dano-Norwegian fleet against British forces under Lord Nelson during the Danish defeat at Copenhagen on 2 April 1801.<ref name="Tucker2010">{{Cite book |author=Spencer Tucker|title=Battles That Changed History: An Encyclopedia of World Conflict |date=11 November 2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=978-1-59884-429-0 |pages=278 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SWBkx0UlgMAC&pg=PA278 |access-date=10 July 2011 }}</ref>
== Life and career == [[File:Reformert Kirke - Olfert Fischer.jpg|thumb|Fischer's grave, as seen from the street Åbenrå ]]
Johan Olfert Fischer was born in Copenhagen in 1747,<ref name=White2002>{{Cite book |author=Colin White |title=The Nelson encyclopedia |year=2002 |publisher=Stackpole Books |location=Mechanicsburg, PA |page=124 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9etjK-7ZkUgC&pg=PA124 |access-date=11 July 2011 |isbn=978-0-8117-0013-9 }}</ref> the son of Vice-Admiral Olfert Fas Fischer<!--and his wife Anna (Reference needed–SS)--> whom he followed to a naval career.<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Chr Grünwald |author2=Knud Lyne Rahbek |title=Kommentar og personregister til Knud Lyne Rahbeks Erindringer |language=da |trans-title=Memoirs of Knud Lyne Rahbek |page=90 |year=1953 |publisher=Aalborg |oclc=13268336 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qqgOAQAAIAAJ |access-date=11 July 2011 }}</ref> While still a young man, his rise through the military ranks was set back and almost destroyed in an incident with a prostitute while he was on guard duty on the island of Holmen off Copenhagen. The prostitute compounded Fischer's disgrace by accusing him of violent assault and her charges were believed by a military court: Fischer, then a lieutenant, was punished and demoted back to common seaman for a period of one year.<ref name=JPdk>{{Cite web |url=https://jyllands-posten.dk/nyviden/ECE4289667/olfert-fischers-eftermaele-til-debat/ |title=Olfert Fischers eftermæle til debat |author=Sørensen, Irene Berg |language=da |trans-title=Olfert Fischer's legacy debated |date=19 January 2010 |publisher=Jyllands Posten (JP.dk) |access-date=28 July 2011 }}</ref>
By 1784, however, Fischer had rebuilt his reputation enough to be promoted to captain, and he was dispatched to the West Indies as commander of the warship ''Bornholme''.<ref name=White2002/> It was during this three-year mission that he first met — on friendly terms — his future foe Nelson, then a captain aboard HMS ''Boreas''.<ref name=White2002/><ref>{{Cite book|author=Nicholas Tracy |title=Nelson's battles: the art of victory in the age of sail |page=[https://archive.org/details/nelsonsbattlesar00trac/page/138 138] |year=1996 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-55750-621-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/nelsonsbattlesar00trac |url-access=registration |access-date=12 July 2011}}</ref>
=== Battle of Copenhagen === {{main|Battle of Copenhagen (1801)}} By 1801, Fischer had risen to the rank of commodore and was appointed to lead the critical naval defense of Copenhagen during the French Revolutionary Wars. Aboard his flagship ''Dannebrog'', he attempted to organize a comprehensive defense with which to face Nelson's fleet. The ''Dannebrog'', however, caught fire early in the battle and Fischer was forced to transfer his command, first to a different ship and then, when that ship was crippled also, to a shore-based battery. Under these circumstances, Fischer had little control over the situation. Though the Danish fleet fought a spirited battle, the much larger British force eventually overwhelmed the Danish fleet. Recent histories have posited the difficulty of battle communications and a cumbersome Danish chain of command as reasons for the British victory in the battle."<ref name=White2002/><ref name="Nelson1886">{{Cite book |author=Viscount Horatio Nelson Nelson|title=Letters and despatches of Horatio, viscount Nelson |year=1886 |publisher=Longmans, Green |pages=259ff |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_aj7SAAAAMAAJ |access-date=13 July 2011 }}</ref>
=== Later life ===
Fischer, who was wounded in the battle, was praised as a national hero and bemedaled by the Danish crown for his bravery.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.navalhistory.dk/english/theofficers/f/fischer_j_olfert.htm |title=Fischer, J. Olfert |author=Johnny E. Balsved |year=2009 |publisher=NavalHistory.DK |access-date=10 July 2011 |archive-date=9 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609152640/http://www.navalhistory.dk/english/theofficers/f/fischer_j_olfert.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Nelson himself, who had at that time been involved in over a hundred actions, pronounced that the battle was the fiercest he had ever fought.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Henry Smith Williams |title=The Historians' History of the World: Vol. XVI |pages=421–422 |year=1904 |publisher=The Outlook Company |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JR_OAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA421 |access-date=12 July 2011 }}</ref>
Fischer remained with the navy and was elevated to the rank of Vice Admiral.<ref name=White2002/> He died on 18 February 1829 and was buried in the churchyard of the Reformed Church, Copenhagen.<ref name=Steder>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gravsted.dk/person.php?navn=olfertfischer |title=Johan Olfert Fischer, Danish vice admiral |publisher=Gravsted.dk |access-date=10 July 2011 }}</ref>
== Legacy == Although some contemporary scholars have criticized Fischer's reputation and minimized his significance,<ref name=JPdk/> he remains a military hero in Denmark. Among ships named for him, the coastal defense monitor ''Olfert Fischer'' was one of the main ships of the Royal Danish Navy (RDN) before World War I.<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Frederick Martin |author2=Sir John Scott Keltie |author3=Isaac Parker Anderson Renwick |title=The Statesman's year-book |page=814 |year=1906 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W8o-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA814 |access-date=11 July 2011 |display-authors=etal}}</ref> It was first laid down at Copenhagen in 1900<ref>{{cite book|author=Antony Preston |title=Battleships of World War I: an illustrated encyclopedia of the battleships of all nations, 1914-1918 |page=256 |year=1972 |publisher=Galahad Books |isbn=978-0-88365-300-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ishAQAAIAAJ |access-date=11 July 2011 }}</ref> and commissioned to service in 1903.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.orlogsmuseet.dk/flaade/coastaldefense.htm |title=The Danish Fleet, 1860–1990 |language=da |year=2011 |publisher=Royal Danish Naval Museum |access-date=16 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321043110/http://www.orlogsmuseet.dk/flaade/coastaldefense.htm |archive-date=21 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The vessel took part in the coronation celebrations of King George V in June 1911, representing Denmark at the naval ceremonies in Spithead.<ref>{{Cite news |title=King Reviews 188 Warships; Magnificent Scene at Spithead |author=(Staff) |newspaper=The New York Times |date=25 June 1911 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00A14FE3E5D16738DDDAC0A94DE405B818DF1D3 |access-date=10 July 2011 }}</ref> The modern ''Olfert Fischer'' (F355) is a {{Sclass|Niels Juel|corvette|2}} of the RDN, commissioned to service in 1981.<ref name="Janes1994">{{Cite book |author1=Frederick Thomas Jane |author2=Jane's Information Group |title=Jane's fighting ships |page=159 |year=1994 |publisher=Sampson Low, Marston and Co. |isbn=978-0-7106-1161-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L44RAQAAMAAJ |access-date=10 July 2011 }}</ref> In addition to coastal duties, this ship served among allied forces in the Persian Gulf during the conflicts of 1990<ref>{{Cite book|author1=Naval Records Club (U.S.)|author2=International Naval Research Organization|title=Warship International |page=75 |year=1991 |publisher=International Naval Research Organization |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4RFHAQAAIAAJ |access-date=10 July 2011 }}</ref> and 2003.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.navalhistory.dk/english/history/1989_2003/iraquifreedom_2003.htm |title=Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003) |author=Johnny E. Balsved |year=2009 |publisher=NavalHistory.DK |access-date=10 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623040423/http://www.navalhistory.dk/english/History/1989_2003/IraquiFreedom_2003.htm |archive-date=23 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Fischer is commemorated in the composition ''The Hope'' by Frederik Magle which was commissioned by the Admiral Danish Fleet and the Reformed Church in Copenhagen. ''The Hope'' was premiered on 1 and 2 April 2001, marking the 200th anniversary of the battle of Copenhagen.<ref>{{cite news | title= Værk for Olfert Fischer | newspaper= Kristeligt Dagblad | date= 29 March 2001 | url= http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/220850| access-date= 2012-01-05 | language = da}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/21-hope-brass-organ-percussion.html| title=The Hope|publisher=magle.dk|access-date=29 July 2012}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist|colwidth=25em}}
== Further reading == * {{Cite book |title=Danish official account of the Copenhagen battle |last=Fischer |first=Olfert |year=1801 |publisher=Massachusetts Federalist |location=Boston |oclc=472188890 }} One copy extant in the Royal Danish Library (#KGL01002580387). * Thomas Lyngby, Søren Mentz, Søren Nørby & Jakob Seerup: ''Danmarks største søhelte'', Copenhagen, Gads Forlag, 2010, 280 pages. {{in lang|da}} {{ISBN|978-87-12-04513-7}}.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Johan Olfert}} Category:1747 births Category:1829 deaths Category:18th-century Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy officers Category:19th-century Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy officers Category:Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy admirals Category:19th-century Royal Danish Navy admirals Category:Danish naval commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Category:Danish Calvinist and Reformed Christians