Portal:Denmark/Selected biography/Week 27, 2006

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Niels Juel (8 May 1629 - 8 April 1697) was a Danish admiral.

Brother of diplomat Jens Juel, he was born at Christiania in Norway. He served his naval apprenticeship under Maarten Tromp and Michiel de Ruyter, taking part in all the chief engagements of the war of 1652-54 between England and the Netherlands. During a long indisposition at Amsterdam in 1655-1656 he acquired a thorough knowledge of ship-building, and returned to Denmark in 1656 a thoroughly equipped seaman. He served with distinction during the Swedo-Danish Wars of 1658-60 and took a prominent part in the defence of Copenhagen against Charles X of Sweden.

During fifteen years of peace, Juel, as admiral of the fleet, labored assiduously to develop and improve the Danish Navy, though he bitterly resented the setting over his head in 1663 of Cort Adeler on his return from the Turkish wars. In 1661 Juel married Margrethe Ulfeldt. On the outbreak of the Scanian War he served at first under Adeler, but on the death of the latter in November 1675 he was appointed to the supreme command.