Swedish Navy

Early Swedish kings (c. 9th–14th centuries) organised a Swedish Navy along the coastline through ledungen. This involved combined rowing and sailing ships (without artillery). This system became obsolete with the development of society and changes in military technology. No later than in the 14th century, the duty to serve in ledungen was replaced by a tax. In 1427, when Sweden was still part of the Kalmar Union (with Denmark and Norway), Swedish warships did however participate in the naval battle of Öresund against the Hanseatic League. It is unclear how this force was organised and exactly on what basis.

On 7 June 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. Official Swedish histories since the 19th century have often recorded this day as the birth of the current Swedish Navy. The museum ship Vasa in Stockholm was a 17th-century ship of the Royal Swedish Navy (Kungliga flottan).

The Amphibious Corps dates back to 1 January 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 Amphibious Corps (Amfibiekåren) in 2000.

For most of the twentieth century, the Swedish Navy focused on the threat of a full-scale invasion of Sweden via the Baltic Sea and on protecting commercial shipping. Sweden's location on the Scandinavian peninsula makes it highly dependent of maritime trade: 90% imports and exports enter or leave Sweden through the Baltic. In 1972, the government decreed that non-military measures should be used to protect merchant shipping. The resolution led to the de-commissioning of all the navy's destroyers and frigates, though the non-military measures the government intended to use to protect shipping have never been specified.

The navy first participated in a UN-led peacekeeping mission in October 2006 when the corvette HSwMS Gävle[note 1] began performing coastal surveillance duties for the United Nations Mission in Lebanon. HSwMS Gävle was relieved by HSwMS Sundsvall, which returned to Sweden in September 2007.

HSwMS Malmö, HSwMS Stockholm, and HSwMS Trossö took part in the EU-led EUNAVFOR operation (2008– ) off the coast of the Horn of Africa. In 2010, HSwMS Carlskrona was the EUNAVFOR flagship, housing the fleet headquarters led by RAdm (LH) Jan Thörnqvist.[3]

Until recently, the Navy was led by the Chief of the Navy, who was typically a vice admiral. This office has been eliminated, and the highest officer of the Navy is now the Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum, who is the senior representative of the Swedish Navy's combat forces.

The Marine units use the same system of rank as the Army.

The Swedish destroyer HSwMS Östergötland, decommissioned in 1982.

In the decades following World War II, the Swedish Navy was organised around three light cruiser groups (Tre Kronor, Göta Lejon and Gotland). In the early 1960s, a decision, known as Navy Plan 60 (Swedish: Marinplan 60), was made to scrap the cruisers and move towards a larger fleet of smaller vessels. The last cruiser, Göta Lejon, was sold in 1970 to Chile, where she was renamed Almirante Latorre. The fleet at the time comprised some 24 destroyers and frigates for surface warfare (mainly in the Baltic Sea) and anti-submarine warfare.

The Swedish Navy started to experiment with missiles, based on a recovered German V-2 rocket, as early as 1944. The main armament of the fleet was artillery and torpedoes for surface warfare and anti-submarine rockets for anti-submarine warfare. Helicopters (Alouette II and Vertol 44) were introduced in the late 1950s and 1960s and this fleet air arm remained an integral part of the fleet and its operations until an independent helicopter arm was created in the 1990s.

The 1972 decision made by the Government to decommission all destroyers and frigates within the next decade limited the Navy's endurance considerably, but the use of smaller short-range ships was at the time deemed adequate for anti-shipping missions along the coast and in the archipelago. In the 1980s, this assessment was proven wrong by repeated failures in anti-submarine warfare operations with inadequate ships and equipment. Today, the largest (surface) combat ships are corvettes which combine surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and mine clearance functions with a better endurance and seaworthiness than the budget fleet from the 1980s.

Since the 1980s, Swedish surface warships have been named after Swedish cities, while submarines are named after Swedish provinces and minehunters after Swedish lighthouses. 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 the new, larger, Visby class of stealth corvettes. A new submarine class, Gotland, similar to the older Västergötland, was commissioned in 1998. Its air-independent Stirling engine enables submerged endurance never before seen in conventional submarines. Gotland has been on lease with crew and all to the US Navy and was based in San Diego.

The Amphibious Battalion is built around the Stridsbåt 90H, a small combat boat capable of carrying 21 troops 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. Cooperation with the Royal Netherlands Navy is under investigation for Amphibious Warfare.

The Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten) operate three types of helicopters: NHIndustries NH90 (HKP14) (18 in service), AgustaWestland AW109 (HKP15) (20 in service) and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk (HKP16) (15 in service). Eight of the AgustaWestland AW109 helicopters have been modified to be operational from the Visby-class corvettes and HSwMS Carlskrona. Nine of the NHIndustries NH90 helicopters are equipped with sonars and radars for anti-submarine warfare.

Submarines

Class	Photo	Number of boats	Builder	Origin	Notes
Gotland class		3	Kockums AB		All three units in the class have been upgraded 2020-2022[5]
Södermanland class		1[6]	Kockums AB		Will be replaced from 2027 and forward by two new units of Blekinge class[7]

Corvettes

Class	Photo	Number of ships	Builder	Origin	Notes
Gävle class		2	Karlskronavarvet AB		2 in service and 2 decommissioned.[8]
Visby class		5	Karlskronavarvet AB		to be upgraded and fitted with airdefence by 2030[4]

Minesweepers

Class	Photo	Number of ships	Builder	Origin	Notes
Koster class		5	Karlskronavarvet AB		Total of 7 ships completed. 5 in service and 2 decommissioned.
Styrsö class		3	Karlskronavarvet AB		2 ships converted to diving support vessels, 1 ship to command and support vessel and 1 ship decommissioned.

Patrol boats

Class	Photo	Number of ships	Builder	Origin	Notes
Stockholm class		2	Karlskronavarvet AB		Downgraded from corvettes[9]
Tapper class		11	Djupviks varv		Total of 12 ships completed. 11 in service and 1 decommissioned.

Combat boats

Class	Photo	Number of ships	Builder	Origin	Notes
Stridsbåt 90		165	Dockstavarvet, Gotlandsvarvet		18 additional units commissioned in 2022 [10]

Ocean patrol vessels

Class	Photo	Number of ships	Builder	Origin	Notes
HSwMS Carlskrona		1	Karlskronavarvet, Karlskrona		Former mine layer M04

Signal intelligence vessels

Class	Photo	Number of ships	Builder	Origin	Notes
HSwMS Orion		1	Karlskronavarvet, Karlskrona		Will be replaced by HSwMS Artemis[11]
HSwMS Artemis		1	Karlskronavarvet, Karlskrona Nauta Shipyard, Poland		delivered but not commissioned[12]

Auxiliary vessels, major

Class	Photo	Number of ships	Builder	Origin	Notes
HSwMS Trossö		1	OY Laivateollisuus		Command and support ship
HSwMS Furusund		1	Åsiverken		Sub water research vessel
HSwMS Belos		1	Shipyard De Hoop		Submarine salvage ship. Carries the submarine rescue system URF.

Commissioned officer ranks

The rank insignia of commissioned officers.

Rank group	General / flag officers										Senior officers						Junior officers								Officer cadet
Swedish Navy[13]
			Amiral		Viceamiral		Konteramiral		Flottiljamiral		Kommendör		Kommendörkapten		Örlogskapten		Kapten		Löjtnant			Fänrik			Kadett

Other ranks

The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel.

Rank group	Senior NCOs																						Junior NCOs						Enlisted
Swedish Navy[13]																																			Menig 2 Menig 1 Menig
	Flottiljförvaltare						Förvaltare		Fanjunkare		Översergeant			Sergeant			Överfurir			Furir			Korpral				Vicekorpral		Menig 4			Menig 3

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Swedish Navy.

• Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences
• Leidang
• List of Swedish wars
• List of Swedish military commanders
• List of ships of the Swedish Navy
• List of coastal defence ships of the Swedish Navy
• Swedish Admirals

• Official website (in English)
• Official website (in Swedish)
• Göran Frilund – The Swedish Navy 1788–1809