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Further Reading

Royal Swedish Navy (RSwN) Marinen

The Swedish Navy organises and trains naval and amphibious units which, in concert with air and land forces, must be capable of upholding Sweden's territorial integrity in peacetime and of defending the country against future threats, with force if necessary. These units must be capable of being used both internationally and nationally. In peacetime the Swedish Armed Forces must also be capable of being used in support of the civil community.

The Baltic Sea is an example of what is known internationally as an "extreme littoral" environment with shallow water and narrow channels. The Navy has thus for a long time been developing unique underwater, surface and above-surface capabilities to enable combat operations to be conducted in our adjacent coastal and sea areas. The combatant craft [it is questionable whether anything below 1 000 tons should be called a ship] Sweden has in service are all designed for operations in the Baltic under late Cold War conditions

The Navy's international units have to be ready, once parliamentary approval has been given, to take part in military operations beyond Sweden's borders. In such cases the Navy contributes both men and materiel. For example the Navy has, since the mid-1990s, been participating in mine clearance operations in the southern Baltic off the coasts of the Baltic States. In mid-October 2006 the corvette HMS Gävle took part, as the first Swedish warship ever to do so, in the naval part of the United Nations operation UNIFIL. With the designations ML 01 and ML 02, HMS Gävle and HMS Sundsvall operated, together with a national command and support group, off the Lebanese coast. In February 2008 Swedish soldiers were deployed in Chad. The amphibious regiment, Amf 1, was tasked with establishing and training the unit. The majority of the personnel involved were recruited from AM 07, a unit already fully trained and registered.

The Swedish Navy includes units of the following types:

• Naval warfare flotillas capable of monitoring sea areas, maritime traffic and fisheries, and of engaging surface and underwater targets both in coastal waters and on the open sea, in addition to possessing a mine clearance capability.
• One submarine flotilla capable of the covert monitoring of sea areas, intelligence gathering and the engagement of both underwater and surface targets.
• One amphibious battalion capable of monitoring coastal and inshore areas and of engaging both surface and underwater targets.
• Naval base with one maritime base battalion and one maritime surveillance and information battalion capable of monitoring Swedish territorial waters and supporting other units with food and other supplies.
• Command and control unit for the coordination and command of forces composed of different units.

The Inspector General of the Swedish Navy is the most senior representative of the Swedish Navy's combat forces. Together with the Naval Staff at Armed Forces Headquarters, the Inspector General leads materiel procurement and other capability-generating activities, that is to say force development and the training of officers and national service conscripts. The Swedish Navy's tactical staff leads activities utilising these capabilities, for example in actual operations and deployments and in major exercises, both in Sweden and abroad.

The Landsort class, constructed of Glassfibre Reinforced Plastic (GRP), was built at Kockums' Karlskrona shipyard in the early 1980s, and will continue play an important role in the Swedish Navy's future organisation.

In May 2005 the comprehensive Landsort project was launched at Kockums in Karlskrona. Five of the Swedish Navy's mine countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) are to undergo mid-life upgrades, as well as modification for international missions. The total order is worth more than one billion Swedish kronor. Kockums is principal contractor and will be responsible, among other things, for procurement of command and sonar systems. Intensive efforts were being made on the construction side, while the work of removing obsolete equipment has already started on the first, HMS Koster. HMS Vinga and HMS Ulvön would soon follow their sister vessel into the shipyard.

Initially, these three vessels will be modified to enable participation in the Swedish international rapid reaction force, after which they will undergo a general refit. Later, all five vessels will be equipped with new weapon and command systems, new air-defence systems and a remote-operated underwater vehicle (ROV) which will possess a mine-hunting capability, among other features.

The first two Koster-class mine countermeasures vessels modernised by Kockums for the Royal Swedish Navy (RSwN) were recommissioned into service on 13 March 2009. Mid-life upgrades (MLUs) for HMS Koster and HMS Vinga were completed at Kockums' Karlskrona shipyard in January and August 2008 respectively, when the ships were handed over to the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (Försvarets Materielverk [FMV]) for acceptance trials.

The Södermanland Class consists of the submarines HMS Södermanland and HMS Östergötland. They were originally launched in 1987-1990 as two of the four boats in the Västergötland (Vgd) Class. The submarines have been modernized at Kockums, including the installation of the Stirling AIP system. HMS Södermanland was relaunched in 2003 and HMS Östergötland in 2004.

The submarines were cut and lengthened by the insertion of the Stirling AIP section. This section, fully fitted and equipped before installation, contains two Stirling units, liquid oxygen (LOX) tanks and electrical equipment. When the Södermanland Class has been completed, all operational submarines in the Swedish fleet will have Stirling air-independent propulsion - something quite unique among the world's navies equipped with conventional submarines. The fully equipped Stirling AIP section is inserted aft of the tower.

Swedish submarines are designed to operate mainly in colder northern waters. Higher water temperatures can lead to problems with high ambient temperatures and high levels of relative humidity on board. An important aspect of the Södermanland Class conversion is that the submarines will now be equipped to undertake international peacekeeping missions in warmer and more saline waters. In practice this involves fitting the boats with a completely new refrigeration system employing heat exchangers rather than the direct seawater cooling previously used.

The command and control system of the Södermanland Class submarines is being updated to the latest standards and the boats' stealth properties are being further refined. The submarines are also being equipped with a new air-lock for divers.

With the conversion of the Södermanland Class, the Swedish Navy will get two practically new submarines capable of operating for the next twenty years without further modernisation.

In the mid-1990s six amphibious battalions were being organized.