Copyright © Hans Högman 2023-10-02
Motorized Warships of the
Swedish Navy
Introduction
The birthday of the Swedish Navy is considered
to be 7 June 1522, when the ten ships bought by
King Gustav Vasa from the Hanseatic League in
Lübeck entered Slätbaken, Östergötland province,
Sweden.
At that time, Stockholm was its main naval base. In
1552 the fleet consisted of 15 ships and 20 galleys.
In connection with the establishment of the Late
Allotment System (Swe: Yngre Indelningsverket) in
1682, the permanent keeping of hired boatmen
(Swe: ständiga båtsmanshållet) was also introduced
and thus the naval fleet received a fixed number of
seamen.
The Swedish Naval Ensign
The naval ensign of the Swedish Navy is a three-
tailed Swedish flag. The first regulations on the
naval ensign were issued in 1663. These stated that
warships and fortresses as well as the Swedish
state should fly a three-tailed flag - the naval
ensign.
The image to the right shows the
Swedish naval ensign. Image:
Wikipedia.
For further about the navy, see History of the
Swedish Navy.
Warships
From the mid-1500s to the early 1800s, warships
did not differ much from each other. Gradually, the
size of the ships grew, which meant that the
firepower increased as the ships could carry more
cannons. The guns were placed in gun decks, which
led to the designation of one-, two- or three-
deckers. Normally the three-deckers carried 90
guns and the two-deckers between 50 and 80 guns.
Between 1800 and 1830 there was no major
change in the fleet's composition. The fleet basically
consisted of the remains of King Gustav III's proud
fleets. The ship of the line 'Karl III' was completed in
1819 and the ship of the line 'Karl XIV Johan' in 1824,
both with a displacement of 2,600 tons. The Navy's
last and largest ship of the line "Stockholm" was
built between 1832 and 1856 and had a
displacement of 2,850 tons. Both 'Karl XIV Johan'
and 'Stockholm' were fitted with an 800 hp steam
engine in the 1850s.
The Swedish Navy's first steamships were 'Oden'
and 'Gylfe', constructed in 1834. They were not
warships but rather tugs and transport ships. The
first steam-powered warship was the steam
corvette 'HMS Thor', completed in 1841.
Sweden's first propeller-driven warship, one of the
first in Europe, was the screw corvette 'HMS Gefle'
(Gävle).
The navy's first steam-powered iron ship was the
wheeler steamer 'HMS Kare'. Kare was launched on
10 April 1847 in Gothenburg. She was 24.2 meters
long and 3.2 meters wide and could travel at a
speed of 9 knots.
In 1862, the Swedish government decided that
wooden warships were no longer suitable for use in
combat.
The first armored ship was the 3,000-ton armored
ship 'HMS Svea'. Launched in December 1885, she
was armed with two 25 cm guns in an armored
turret forward and four 15 cm armored pieces in
the stern.
Designations of the Swedish Warships
The modern warships in the Swedish Navy are
marked in peacetime with military designations
that usually consist of a prefix, a letter that stands
for the type of ship, followed by a serial number
(ship number/recognition number).
Swedish recognition numbers are usually
abbreviated as IK numbers.
Internationally these naval identification numbers
are called pennant numbers.
Example of Swedish ship type designations:
•
A = Trängfartyg/Specialfartyg (Auxiliary vessels
and special service vessels)
•
J = jagare (Destroyers)
•
F = Fregatt (Frigates)
•
K = Korvett (Corvettes)
•
M = Minfartyg (Minesweepers/Minelayers)
•
P = Patrullbåt (Patrol boats)
•
R = Robotbåt (Guided missile boats)
•
T = Motortorpedbåt (Motor torpedo-boats)
•
V = Vedettbåt (Picket boats)
•
U = Ubåt (Submarines)
The type classification has to do with the tasks and
equipment of each type of ship. Within each type,
the ships are divided into classes where each class
is a series of ships with the same or similar
dimensions, equipment, appearance, etc. and
launched within the same period. For example,
Visby-class corvettes or Gothenburg-class corvettes.
Examples of Visby class corvettes are HMS Visby K31
and HMS Helsingborg K32.
Some warships are not marked with type
designations but only with names, such as
submarines.
The type designations have also changed over the
years and HMS Carlskrona, which is a minelayer, has
the designation P 04.
HMS in Sweden is an abbreviation for Hans
Majestäts Skepp (or Hennes Majestäts Skepp) and is
used before the name of ships in the Swedish Navy.
HSwMS is a sometimes used designation for
military ships from Sweden when traveling outside
Sweden's territorial waters, instead of HMS.
However, the abbreviation 'HMS' was not used by
the Swedish Navy until after 1950. Previously, 'HM'
(His Majesty's) was used, followed by the type of
ship and its name.
In the UK, the same abbreviation stands for Her
Majesty's Ship or His Majesty's Ship and has been
used in the Royal Navy since the 1660s. The USA
uses the designation USS, United States Ship.
About the Pennant Number
Historically, naval ships flew a flag that identified a
flotilla or type of vessel.
In the British Royal Navy and most navies of
Europe, ships are identified by pennant number.
In the system, a letter prefix called a flag superior,
identifies the type of ship, and a numerical suffix,
called a flag inferior, uniquely identifies an
individual ship. Not all pennant numbers have a
flag superior.
The number is painted on military ships to make it
clear which ship it is.
However, the United States Navy uses a different
system called Hull Number or Hull Identification
Number (HIN).
The Swedish corresponding system is called
Igenkänningsnummer, short “IK-nr”.
The naming of Swedish Warships
Naval ships have assigned names in addition to
their military designations.
During the second half of the 18th century, names
that reflected the king's qualities were often used
and warships were given names such as
Dristigheten (The Boldness), Äran (The Honor),
Tapperheten (The Bravery) and Enigheten (Unity), etc.
During the war against Russia in 1788 - 1790, the
navy's flagship was called Konung Gustaf III, i.e.
named after the king.
In the 19th century and up to modern times, names
originating from Norse mythology have been
common, such as Garmer, Fenris, Loki, and Folke.
Many ship names have also been reused over the
years, for example between 1887 and 2000 Munin
was the name of at least four warships.
Minesweepers have traditionally been named after
small and medium-sized islands, such as Arholma,
Aspö, and Ornö, among others. Our large islands
such as Gotland and Öland, on the other hand,
have been named after the larger ships. Many ships
are and have been named after our provinces and
cities.
Types of Warships
Below is a list of some of the most common types
of ships in the Swedish navy in the 20th century.
Cruiser
A cruiser is a large warship capable of engaging
multiple targets simultaneously. The cruiser is in
the size range between a battleship and a
destroyer. The main tasks of the cruiser included
carrying out reconnaissance and surveillance at
sea, destroying the enemy's shipping, blocking or
otherwise disturbing his coastline, and protecting
his own shipping and coastline; in addition, smaller
cruisers have recently been tasked with protecting
their own main force from attacks by enemy
destroyers and torpedo boats. In order to fulfill
their tasks, the cruisers are equipped with
extremely powerful machinery, a considerable fuel
supply, and in earlier times with powerful artillery
and torpedo armament, nowadays with powerful
missile armament.
In modern warfare, the cruiser has almost
completely disappeared and its tasks have been
taken over by destroyers.
The torpedo cruiser HMS Örnen was the first
Swedish cruiser, launched in 1896. During World
War II, the Swedish cruisers HMS Tre Kronor (1945)
and HMS Göta Lejon (1945) were launched. From
1933, Sweden had a seaplane cruiser, HMS Gotland.
The last Swedish cruiser in service was HMS Göta
Lejon, which was decommissioned in 1970.
Destroyer
Destroyers are a type of warship developed in the
early 20th century. A destroyer is fast, relatively
large, and very heavily armed. Originally, the
destroyer's role was to protect battleships from
torpedo boats. Soon enough, destroyers were also
equipped with torpedoes. On modern destroyers,
torpedoes have been supplemented or replaced by
missiles. During and before World War II,
destroyers were mainly used for patrol, escort, and
anti-submarine duties. They were therefore often
equipped with anti-submarine equipment such as
sonar and depth charges.
In general, destroyers are the heaviest surface
ships in service, except for aircraft carriers and
some large missile cruisers in service with the
Russian and American navies.
The era of Swedish destroyers extends from 1902,
when HMS Mode entered service, and ended in
1985 when the last Swedish destroyer HMS Halland
J18 was decommissioned. HMS Halland was a
Halland-class destroyer together with her sister ship
HMS Småland. HMS Småland is now a museum ship
in Gothenburg.
Fifteen of the destroyers were converted to frigates
during their time in service, some changed their
ship numbers while others kept their numbers and
only changed their prefix J to an F. Most of the
Swedish destroyers have carried a city or province
name, such as HMS Sundsvall J12 of the Visby class
or HMS Södermanland J21 of the Östergötland class.
The last destroyers delivered to the Swedish Navy
were the four Östergötland-class destroyers, J20 -
J23, which were delivered in 1958 - 1959.
Frigate
From the 17th century onwards, the frigate was
the name given to sailing armed warships of the
same length as the ships of the line, with the
difference that frigates were equipped with only
one battery deck with guns, which made them
considerably faster but did not give them the same
firing power as the ships of the line. Frigates were
used for reconnaissance and escort duties, among
other things. Sailing frigates were common in the
Swedish Navy between 1650 and 1860.
In the age of motorized ships, a frigate is a surface
combatant between the size of a corvette and a
destroyer, used mainly for anti-submarine warfare.
The Swedish Navy has never had any motorized
frigates that were originally built as frigates, but
15 destroyers were converted to frigates between
1951 and 1975. The last two were the destroyers
HMS Öland and HMS Uppland, launched in
1945/1946 and reclassified as frigates in 1975. They
were decommissioned in 1978.
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, and lightly
armed warship and is smaller than a frigate. Most
modern navies use ships smaller than frigates for
littoral tasks, but not all navies call them corvettes.
The modern corvette appeared during World War II
as a simply built patrol and escort vessel. Their
main task was to protect convoys in the North
Atlantic. Today's typical corvettes are between
patrol boats and frigates in size and characteristics.
The current Swedish surface combatant fleet
consists of three different types of corvettes: the
Stockholm class, the Gothenburg class, and the Visby
class. All are capable of combat in three
dimensions: surface combat, underwater combat,
and air combat. The Visby class has also been given
the ability to neutralize mines. Probably the most
advanced corvette today is the Swedish Visby class.
It is the first operational warship that largely utilizes
stealth technology.
Patrol boat
The main task of the Swedish patrol boats was to
combat less qualified enemy naval forces, landing
craft, and aircraft, monitor and prevent the
violation of Swedish territory, perform escort
duties, lay mines, and anti-submarines activities.
The Swedish Navy's patrol boats were built
between 1978 and 1982 and a total of 16 Hugin-
class vessels were built, named after the first ship in
the series. Eight of these vessels were modified in
1992 to improve their ability of anti-submarine
duties. After the modification, they became known
as Kaparen-class patrol boats. The last three patrol
boats were decommissioned on 1 September 2005.
However, HMS Jägaren (P 150), launched in 1972,
remained operational until 2016. In 1988, she was
modified to become a picket boat (V 150). HMS
Jägaren is now in the possession of the Maritime
History Museum.
Picket boat
A picket boat is a small warship designed for
patrolling and minesweeping. The minesweeping
task disappeared in practice when the Swedish
Navy acquired specialized minesweepers in the late
1930s.
Surveillance boat
Bevakningsbåt type 60, later renamed
Bevakningsbåt type 70, is a class of surveillance
boats previously used in the Swedish Navy, mainly
by the then Coast Artillery, later the Amphibious
Corps. The vessel class was introduced in 1959 and
replaced the Jägaren-class picket boat from the
1930s. The 60-class surveillance boats were
modified in the 1980s and renamed Surveillance
Boat Type 70. Thereafter, they remained in service in
the Navy into the 2000s when they were gradually
replaced by the Type 80 (Tapper class)
surveillance boat.
The surveillance boats have mainly been used for
maritime surveillance.
Surveillance boat type 80 (Tapper class) was a class
of surveillance boats used in the Swedish Navy
between 1993 and 2018. The Tapper class was a
development of the 60/70 surveillance boat, which
was produced for the Coast Guard in the early
1980s. Twelve boats were produced and initially
stationed at the Coast Artillery regiments that
existed at the time. The first ship, HMS Tapper (81),
was delivered in February 1993 and the last ship,
HMS Orädd (92), was delivered in January 1999.
In 2015, work began on the life extension and
rebuilding of the five Tapper class ships belonging
to the Älvsborg Amphibious Regiment. These were
later referred to as Surveillance Boat Type 88. In
autumn 2020, the last converted vessel was
delivered back to the Swedish Armed Forces. In
addition to anti-submarine duties, the Type 88
surveillance boat is used for patrolling sea areas,
defending coastal areas, and guarding protected
objects.
In 2015, it was also decided to reintroduce and
semi-modify the ship class, whereby six surveillance
boats were converted to a new ship class, the
reconnaissance boat. The main reason was the
Defense Forces' need to regain the ability to use
passive sonar for intelligence gathering in
archipelago and coastal areas. These ships were
also delivered to the Swedish Armed Forces in
2020. The six ships constitute a new class of ships,
the Type 82 reconnaissance boat, or Djärv class.
Ships of the Swedish Navy - 1
Motor torpedo boat
A motor torpedo boat is a fast-moving surface
attack vessel with a planing hull, i.e. unlike
displacement vessels, they lift themselves out of the
water by using the dynamic forces generated at high
speed.
The boats' main armament consists of torpedoes.
They also use machine guns or light automatic
cannons. For attacks in the dark, illuminating shells
were used. In some cases, mines and depth charges
could also be carried.
The development of motor torpedo boats was
strongly linked to that of large gasoline engines. The
Swedish motor torpedo boats were mainly equipped
with the Italian Isotta Fraschini engines. They were
compressor-fed and could reach speeds of up to 50
knots. The engines were not reversible or had a
reverse gear, so they could not be reversed. Instead,
the motor torpedo boats had a pair of smaller car-
sized engines, known as marching engines, which
were used when maneuvering in the harbor.
The task of the motor torpedo boats was to attack
ships at sea with torpedoes. However, as the
torpedoes were not guided, they had to get quite
close to the target to achieve a reasonable probability
of success. This was difficult to achieve in daylight, so
the use of motorized torpedo boats was limited to
darkness or in the archipelago, where they could
appear unexpectedly. An alternative use was
reconnaissance and special operations, such as
transporting assault divers or infiltrators to their
areas of operation.
The first motor torpedo boat in Sweden was the T1.
The first Swedish-built torpedo boats were T15 - T18,
built at Kockum shipyard in 1941, and motor torpedo
boats were then in service in Sweden until the early
1980s.
With the first Spica series, from the end of the 1960s,
came a whole new generation of motor torpedo
boats. They differed so much from the earlier
motorized torpedo boats that the Spica boats were
simply called torpedo boats.
Guided missile boat
A missile boat is a type of warship mainly used for
attack, reconnaissance, surveillance, and escort
missions and can engage long-range targets with
anti-ship missiles. The lack of qualified air defense
means that their suitability as escort vessels is
severely limited. Twelve ships of the Norrköping class
(Spica II) were built in 1971-1976 as torpedo boats
but were modified in the 1980s to carry eight Saab
RBS 15 missiles on dual carriages in pairs. The last
two operational missile boats in the Swedish Navy,
HMS Norrköping and HMS Ystad, were
decommissioned in 2005. The Spica series ships were
powered by 3 gas turbines. The Spica I series (6 ships,
T121 - T126) was delivered between 1966 and 1968,
and the Spica II series (12 ships, T/R 141 - T/R 142)
between 1973 and 1976.
Minelayer / Minesweeper
Minelayers are a type of vessel designed to lay naval
mines. The role of minelayers is to lay mines at sea to
cordon off strategic sea areas. They can carry a large
number of mines and are armed with cannons to
combat attacking aircraft and missiles. Each
minelayer also had a secondary task. HMS Älvsnabben
M01 and HMS Carlskrona M04 were training ships for
cadets. HMS Älvsborg M02 was a depot ship for
submarines and HMS Visborg M03 was a staff ship for
the coastal fleet. HMS Carlskrona P04 (formerly M04),
launched in 1980, is still in service. She is now a staff
and command ship, hence the designation P04.
Minehunters are a type of warship designed to clear
naval mines. Mineshunter is the collective name for
vessels capable of searching for and neutralizing
naval mines in various ways but is specifically used to
refer to vessels equipped to identify and neutralize
individual mines, as opposed to minesweepers,
which are vessels equipped only with sweeping
capabilities of mines. In order not to affect mines
themselves, minehunters are normally constructed of
non-magnetic material and have very low acoustic
and pressure signatures.
Older floating mines are cleared using so-called mine
sweeps. This means that a mine clearance vessel
drags cables behind it. Röjdykare (Clearance divers,
underwater EOD) is one of Sweden's mine clearance
units. They are trained divers whose task is to search
for, document, recover, or destroy mines. The
training is very physically and mentally challenging.
Minutläggare (Mula) was the name given to the
minelayers used by the then Swedish Coast Artillery
(later the Amphibious Corps) to lay and maintain
controllable naval mines. The ships were equipped
with rails and cranes for mine laying, had a length of
about 30 meters, a speed of just over 10 knots, and
were equipped with an anti-aircraft gun for self-
defense. Several different classes were in service at
the same time.
Submarine
A submarine (sub) is a vessel capable of traveling
completely underwater. To enable a submarine to
dive, ballast tanks are used. At the surface, they are
completely empty to maximize the submarine's
buoyancy, but when the submarine dives, the air is
released and water flows into the ballast tanks.
Submarines have both horizontal and vertical planes
while surface ships have only side rudders. The
horizontal planes are used to control the trim and
depth and the vertical planes to control sideways
maneuvers.
Some submarines are equipped with x-stern (x-
rudder), where all four planes are used in all
maneuvers, instead of traditional horizontal and
vertical planes. The Sjöormen class submarines of the
Swedish Navy launched in 1967, were the first
production submarines to feature an x-stern.
Traditional submarines have diesel-electric
propulsion systems. Diesel-electric submarines use
one or more diesel engines when traveling on the
surface. Before World War II, the engine drove the
propeller directly (diesel-mechanical transmission),
while generating electricity via generators for battery
charging. After the Second World War, it became
common for the diesel engine to be used solely to
generate electricity to propel the submarine via an
electric motor. In underwater mode, the submarine is
propelled by its batteries. This type of machinery
limits the submarine's endurance in underwater
mode. Since World War II, diesel-electric submarines
can also charge their batteries in submerged mode
by using a snorkel or air mast, which is raised above
the water surface, through which the diesel engines
get their air.
Swedish submarines have been using Stirling engines
since the 1990s to increase their endurance in
submerged mode. A Swedish submarine can stay
underwater for 30 days.
Attack submarines are the oldest type of military
submarine. Attack submarines are used to attack
enemy warships and merchant ships. Attack
submarines with specialized equipment for hunting
other submarines are called hunter-killer
submarines.
Swedish submarines began to be manufactured for
the Swedish Navy in 1869. Over the past century and
a half, some 20 different submarine series have been
designed in Sweden and more than 70 submarines of
various sizes and types have been built in the
country, more than half of them at Kockum Shipyard
in Malmö. To increase the safety of the submarine
weapon, the navy has had a submarine rescue vessel
(URF) since the 1970s.
Swedish submarines
Swedish Arms Designation System
The Swedish military arms designation system is as
follows; Type of arms (often abbreviated) followed by
a lower case “m” and a slash and the year when it
first was adopted (two or four digits), for example,
Ksp m/36. Ksp is short for “kulspruta” (machine gun)
followed by model m/36, i.e. adopted in 1936.
If the caliber is stated it will read “8 mm Ksp m/36”.
Warships of the Swedish Navy
Warships
•
Warships of Sweden
•
Swedish Submarines
•
Signals intelligence Ships of Sweden
•
Swedish Combat Boats
Navy Uniforms
•
Uniforms of the Swedish Navy
