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Swedish Navy

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Swedish Navy
Coat of arms of the Swedish Navy.
FoundedJune 7 1522
CountrySweden
Part ofSwedish Armed Forces
Commanders
Current
commander		Rear Admiral Anders Grenstad
Insignia
The Swedish Naval Ensign

The Royal Swedish Navy (Swedish: Marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet (Flottan) – as well as marine units, the so-called Amphibious Corps (Amfibiekåren).

In Swedish, Royal Swedish Navy vessels are given the prefix "HMS," short for Hans/Hennes Majestäts Skepp (His/Her Majesty's Ship).

History

On June 7, 1522, one year after the separation of Sweden from the Kalmar Union, Gustav Vasa purchased a number of ships from the hanseatic town of Lübeck which is seen as the birth of the Navy. Vasa was a 17th-century ship of the Swedish Navy, then known as the Royal Swedish Navy (Kungliga flottan).

The Amphibious Corps dates back to January 1, 1902, when a separate "Coastal Artillery" (Kustartilleriet) was established, and Marinen came into use as the name of the service as a whole. The last decade of the 20th century saw the abandonment of the coastal fortifications and the force became a more regular marine corps, renamed Amfibiekåren (the Swedish Amphibious Corps) in 2000.

Organization

Until recently, the Navy was led by the Chief of the Navy (Chefen för Marinen, CM), who was typically a Vice Admiral. This office has been eliminated, and the highest officer of the Navy is now the Naval Inspector (Marininspektören), Rear Admiral Anders Grenstad.

The Amphibious Corps uses the same system of rank as the Army. The present Supreme Commander, General Håkan Syrén, was taken from this service.

  • 1st Submarine flotilla (1. ubflj) located at Karlskrona
  • 3rd Naval Warfare Flotilla (3. sjöstridsflj) located at Karlskrona
  • 4th Naval Warfare Flotilla (4. sjöstridsflj) located at Muskö

Amphibious units

  • 1st Amphibious Regiment (Amf 1) located in Berga

Bases

  • Naval Base (MarinB) located at Karlskrona with detachments at Muskö, Berga, Göteborg, Visby, Malmö and Härnösand.

Equipment

Unlike many of the larger navies, the Swedish was transformed into a coastal defence force in the decades following World War II, abandoning its cruisers and destroyers, and is not meant to project force on the high seas. It lacks many of the ships vital for battle far from land, such as aircraft carriers, cruisers, nuclear submarines and destroyers. The largest (surface) combat ships are corvettes. This limits the endurance of the navy, but the use of smaller short-range ships was deemed better suited for missions along the coast, in the archipelago and in the Baltic Sea.

Surface warships in the Swedish navy are named after Swedish cities, while the submarines are named after Swedish provinces and the minehunters are named after Swedish islands. The surface ships are mostly small, relying on agility and flexibility. Examples of these are the Stockholm and Göteborg class corvettes. The Navy is currently taking into service a new, larger, class of stealth corvettes, the Visby. Also, a new submarine class, Gotland, similar to the older Västergötland, has recently been commissioned. Its air independent Stirling engine enables submerged endurance never before seen in conventional submarines. The Gotland is presently on lease with crew and all to the US Navy and is based in San Diego.

The Amphibious Corps is built around the Stridsbåt 90H, a small combat boat capable of carrying 21 soldiers for fast transports and landings in the archipelago. It is also equipped with larger transport boats, but relies on the army, navy and air force for heavy transports and protection.

Surface vessels

Corvettes

File:HMS Stockholm.jpg
HMS Stockholm
File:HMS Visby and HMS Helsingborg.jpg
Visby class corvettes
Göteborg class corvette HMS Gävle K22

Patrol Boat

HMS Jägaren

Combat Boat

Minesweeper

Landsort class MCMVs


Submarines

HMS Gotland transits through San Diego Harbor with the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan CVN 76 in the background
File:HMS Gotland.jpg
Gotland-class submarine on the open sea

Auxiliary vessels

School ships

Strategy

For many years the Swedish Navy was built around a single task, to stop a full-scale invasion over the Baltic Sea, preferably by creating massive losses before the enemy could reach the shore. Today the navy is changing rapidly. With the collapse of the Soviet Union it is argued that the only viable threat in the local area disappeared. The army and air force have a strong presence in UN missions. The Swedish Navy has four rapidly deployable units on 30 days standby. These are a corvette squadron (two Göteborg class) with a support ship, a minecountermeasures squadron (two Landsort class) with a support ship, one submarine, and a forward naval support element. In the near future there will also be an amphibious unit on 30 days standby.

The Swedish naval UN operation started in October 2006 when the corvette HMS Gävle joined the United Nations Mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL for surveillance missions along the coast of Lebanon. HMS Gävle was relieved by HMS Sundsvall. HMS Sundsvall returned to Sweden in september 2007.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Swedish Navy.

References

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