Ole Judichær

Ole (Olaus) Judichær (20 March 1661 29 September 1729) was a Danish shipbuilder and admiral in the Royal Danish Navy.

Early life Ole (or Olaus) Judichær was born on 20 March 1661 in Gotland, although this date may have been 20 February 1661 where his father was the parish priest in the very south of the island.

Ships-of-the-line attributed to Judichær Beskiermeren (1708) Ebenetzer (1709) Elephanten (1703) Haffruen (1701) (or Havfruen) Island (1706) Justitia (1707) Jylland (1704) Sophia Hedevig (1697) Sophia Magdalena (1727) which the Swedish fleet nevertheless had problems navigating to join their British and Dutch allies in the bombardment of Copenhagen and troop landings at Humlebæk in August of that year. In 1718 Judichær designed and built shallow draft floating mortar platforms for use in the rocky coastal waters of Sweden

In 1719 he used a diving bell designed and built by himself for investigation and raising of ships that had been sunk at Marstrand

Dismissal, retirement and death With the end of the Great Northern War his detractors within the Danish Admiralty grew, led by the admirals Råben and Frants Trojel who complained about him to the king, Frederik IV, and accused him of bringing his office into disrepute. Judichær, by his whimsical response to these charges, did not gain any friends and was made a scapegoat for all that was wrong at the shipyards, being dismissed in 1725 – a decision formally approved in 1727. The story that he had to leave Holmen in disgrace through the Slaves Gate is provably untrue.

He retired to Næstved where he died on 29 September 1729. His coffin was placed in the chapel of the naval church at Holmen in 1730.