Copyright © Hans Högman 2023-10-02
Ships of the Swedish Navy -
Signals Intelligence Vessels
List of various Swedish Signals Intelligence
Vessels
•
HMS Orion A201, 1984 -
•
HMS Artemis A202, 2024 -
Definitions
In the description of the ships, there are some
concepts and terms that may be worth describing.
•
Pennant No., the recognition number that
Swedish warships normally, in peacetime, have
painted on the side of certain types of ships. For
submarines, it is an abbreviation of the
submarine's name. [Hull No. in the US].
•
Delivered refers to the time when the ship was
formally delivered to the Navy from the shipyard.
•
Launched, refers to the time when the ship was
christened and launched.
•
Decommissioned normally refers to the time
when the ship is permanently removed from the
Navy organization.
•
Displacement, expressed in tons, is given with
two values, standard displacement, and
displacement when the ship is fully equipped. If
only one value is given, it refers to standard
displacement. For submarines, displacement is
given in surface mode and submerged mode.
•
Speed is given in knots and refers to the
contracted speed. For submarines, the speed is
given in surface mode and submerged mode.
•
Dimensions, given in meters for length, beam,
and draft. The length may be given in two
dimensions: the waterline and the maximum
overall length. If only one length is given, the
maximum length is referred to. Beam means the
maximum width.
•
Complement, the crew size. It normally refers to
the peacetime crew size.
•
Submarine diving depths indicate the
maximum permitted diving depth in peacetime.
•
ihp = Indicated horsepower (the theoretical
power of a reciprocating engine if it is completely
frictionless)
The abbreviation "HMS" means “Hans Majestäts
Skepp / Hennes Majestäts Skepp” and is used in the
Swedish Navy as a prefix before the ship's name,
such as HMS Visby. However, HMS was not used by
the Swedish Navy until after 1950. For older ships,
i.e. built before 1950, "HM" (His Majesty's) was used
followed by the ship type and name, e.g. HM
Kryssare Tre Kronor.
HSwMS is a sometimes used designation for
military ships from Sweden when traveling outside
Sweden's territorial waters, instead of HMS.
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.
A spy ship or signals intelligence vessel is a
dedicated ship intended to gather intelligence,
usually using sophisticated electronic
eavesdropping.
Sweden uses land-based, airborne, and ship-borne
signals intelligence.
HMS Orion A201
The signals intelligence gathering vessel HMS
Orion (A201) made its maiden voyage in 1984. The
ship was built with major support from the US
National Security Agency (NSA).
Orion can be recognized by the large horizontal
cylinder, the radome, on top of the deckhouse to
protect the antenna equipment. Orion is part of
the first submarine flotilla and is stationed in
Karlskrona. Orion is operated by naval personnel,
and with personnel from the Swedish National
Defence Radio Establishment (Swedish: Försvarets
Radioanstalt, FRA), the vessel conducts intelligence
gathering (signal reconnaissance), including together
with maritime surveillance centers, to detect any
threats to Sweden's security.
The ship has two crews that take turns to keep the
ship at sea as much as possible.
On October 26, 1985, HMS Orion was rammed by
a Soviet Nanutja-class corvette in the Gulf of
Gdansk while watching over a Soviet naval exercise.
The Soviets apparently felt that Orion had come too
close to their naval exercise.
In April 2011, Lars Haller, the commander of HMS
Orion at the time the Orion was "rammed",
described the incident in Blekinge Läns Tidning
(newspaper). Haller says that Orion was watching
two Soviet Nanutja-class attack corvettes when one
of the corvettes approached Orion at high speed
from behind. The corvette then passed the Orion
several times, each time at an increasingly shorter
distance. On the last occasion, the Russian corvette
came too close and its missile tubes were pushed
against the starboard side of the Orion. So it wasn't
really a question of the Orion being rammed by the
Soviet ship and there was much more damage to
the Russian ship than to the Orion.
Immediately after the incident, the Swedish Air
Force sent a Saab 37 Viggen combat aircraft to
check up on the Orion and made several low-level
sniffs over the Soviet ship to show that Sweden did
not appreciate what had happened.
There is also information on the Internet that the
Soviet ship in the incident was not a corvette but a
Sonya-class minesweeper.
The image shows HMS Orion, A201. Image:
Wikipedia.
Specifications:
•
Complement
8 officers, 18–20 seamen
•
In service
1984 – 2024?
•
Displacement
1,205 ton
•
Armament
Automatic rifles AK 5, machine
guns m/58, and the ability to mount a 40mm
dual-purpose gun on the foredeck.
•
Length
61.2 m
•
Beam
11.7 m
•
Draught
3.8 m
•
Propulsion:
2 x Hedemora diesel engines
•
Speed:
12 knots
•
No. of ships
1
HMS Atremis A202
In 2010, the government decided that a new signals
intelligence vessel should be procured for the
armed forces. However, the Swedish Defense
Materiel Administration (FMV) delayed the order to
Saab until 2017.
The new signals intelligence vessel was built,
launched, and then tested at a Polish shipyard,
Nauta in Gdynia. Subsequently, the ship was
supplemented with signals intelligence equipment
at Saab's shipyard in Karlskrona and the final tests
(SAT) were carried out.
So, in 2017, the Swedish Defense Materiel
Administration ordered a replacement for HMS
Orion from Saab Kockums AB, HMS Artemis. The
ship was handed over to the Swedish Defense
Materiel Administration (FMV) on April 28, 2023,
after being completed in Karlskrona.
Like HMS Orion, the Atremis' tasks will be
intelligence gathering and maritime surveillance in
the vicinity of Swedish territory, mainly in the Baltic
Sea.
The ship was launched on April 16, 2019, and the
keel was laid a year earlier - in March 2018.
The image shows HMS Artemis, A202. Image:
Swedish Defense Forces.
The ship was then to be completed in 2019 - 2020
by Saab Kockums in Karlskrona. However, it was
not finished until November 2022 because the
shipyard in Poland went bankrupt and the hull had
to be completed in Sweden.
At the launching in 2019, it was announced that the
new naval vessel would be named HMS Artemis (A
202), after the goddess of the hunt, Artemis, in
Greek mythology.
In 2023, FRA equipped HMS Artemis with signals
intelligence equipment to replace the older HMS
Orion in 2024.
Specifications:
•
Complement
circa 35
•
In service
2024 –
•
Displacement
2,200 - 2,300 ton
•
Armament
?
•
Length
74 m
•
Beam
14 m
•
Draught
3.8 m
•
Propulsion
4 diesel generators, 990 kW
(1,330 hp) each
•
Speed
14.4 knots
•
No. of ships
1
Ships of the Swedish Navy - 10
