Swedish Navy

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The Swedish Naval Ensign

Coat of arms of the Swedish Navy

The Royal Swedish Navy (Swedish: Marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It consists 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).

1 History
2 Organization
3 Equipment
4 Strategy
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

On June 7, 1522, merely a year after the separation of Sweden from the Kalmar Union, King Gustav I purchased a number of ships from the hanseatic town of Lübeck which is seen as the birth of the Navy. The 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.

[edit] 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 abolished, 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 Commander-in-Chief, General Håkan Syrén, was taken from this service.

[edit] Naval units

The submarine HMS Gotland

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

[edit] Amphibious units

1st Amphibious Regiment (Amf 1) located in Berga

[edit] Bases

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

[edit] Equipment

Unlike many of the larger navies the Swedish was changed into a coastal defence force after the Second World War and is not meant to project force on other countries. It lacks many of the ships vital to battle far from land, such as aircraft carriers, cruisers, nuclear submarines and destroyers. The largest 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.

[edit] Surface Vessels

Corvettes
- 5 Visby class (stealth corvette)
  - HMS Visby (K31)
  - HMS Helsingborg (K32)
  - HMS Härnösand (K33)
  - HMS Nyköping (K34)
  - HMS Karlstad (K35) (under construction)
- 4 Göteborg class
  - HMS Göteborg (K21)
  - HMS Gävle (K22)
  - HMS Kalmar (K23)
  - HMS Sundsvall (K24)
- 2 Stockholm class
  - HMS Stockholm (K11)
  - HMS Malmö (K12)

Combat Boats
- 187 Stridsbåt 90

Mine Counter-Measure Vessels
- 7 Landsort class
- 4 Styrsö class
- HMS Carlskrona (M04)

[edit] Submarines

Submarines
- 3 Gotland class
- 2 Södermanland class

[edit] Auxiliary Vessels

Landing craft
- ~100 G class landing craft
Auxiliary vessels
- 1 Älvsborg-class support vessel
- HMS Trossö
- HMS Arkösund
- HMS Furusund
- HMS Fårösund
- HMS Grundsund
- HMS Belos (submarine salvage vessel)
- HMS Urd
- HMS Ägir
- 12 Tapper-class patrol boats
2 Torpedo salvage vessels
- HMS Pelikanen
- HMS Pingvinen
Transport ships
- HMS Sleipner
SIGINT vessels
- HMS Orion

[edit] School ships

Schooners
- HMS Falken
- HMS Gladan

Ships for navigation education
- HMS M21
- HMS M22
- HMS Viksten

[edit] 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 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, UNMIL for survaillance missions along the coast of Lebanon.