HSwMS Gotland (Gtd)

HSwMS Gotland (Gtd) History

Sweden manages a slender coastline that borders the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea to the east, and the English Channel (and then the Atlantic Ocean) to the west. Therefore, the Scandinavian countries have a responsibility to maintain a state-of-the-art naval service, and in the existing inventory of warships there are five diesel-electric submarines belonging to two different classes, the Gotland class and the old Southmanland class . Three ships currently form the Gotland class, launched in the mid-1990s, and two form the Sodermanland class, launched in the late 1980s.

The Gotland class is led by HSwMS Gotland (Gtd). It was built by the Kockums AB shipyard in Malmo, Sweden, and the keel was laid on 10 October 1992. The ship was launched on 2 February 1995 and officially commissioned with the Swedish Navy in April 1996. As of this writing (December 2017), she's still in service there, fighting under the motto "Sum of Goths, Cave Konua", which means "I'm a Gothlander, watch out for the horn".

Her home port is Karlskrona, Sweden.

When built, the ship displaces 1,380 tons on the surface and 1,600 tons underwater. Dimensions include an overall length of 198.1 feet, a beam of 20.3 feet and a draft of 18.3 feet. It is powered by 2 1,300 hp German MTU diesel engines, 2 101 hp Stirling AIP engines and 1 1,800 hp electric motor. Diesel engines are used for surface cruising while electric motors are used for underwater cruising.

The boat can move at 11 knots above the water and 20 knots underwater for over two weeks with a crew of 22. The hull has been tested to a depth of 500 feet.

Airborne standard Swedish armament with 4 x 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes and 2 x 400 mm (16 in) torpedo tubes. 12 533mm and 6 400mm heavy reloads. The ship also acts as a mine distribution platform, and can transport up to 48 mines to the outside world.

Completely modern in design, the Gotland features blunt sections and a flat hull. The sails are slender and low-profile, positioned slightly forward amidships. The dive plane is mounted on the front of the sail. Stabilizers and rudder controls are arranged in an "X" shape instead of a cross.

HSwMS Gotland was commissioned by two sister ships of the same design, HSwMS Uppland (Upd) and HSwMS Halland (Hnd). All have been on active duty since December 2017 and are assigned to the Swedish Navy's 1st Submarine Fleet.

In service, HSwMS is valued for its quiet operation, agility and intelligence gathering, anti-submarine/anti-ship and mine warfare capabilities. That's what she's worth, so much so that she's been used in war games with the U.S. to test the effectiveness of service against the modern diesel-electric type, successfully in Gotland against a group of U.S. carriers centered on the USS Ronald Reagan . In another earlier exercise against the U.S. military, the ship "sunk" the USS Houston, a highly acclaimed Los Angeles-class submarine.

The

Gotland-class is planned to be succeeded by the next-generation A26-class, which is in development and is expected to come online around 2022. Meanwhile, the class will be modernized in 2017-2019 (by Saab Kockums) to keep it viable in the near future - especially given the increased Russian submarine activity in the Baltic Sea.

The course will also go hand in hand with the new A26 course, at least temporarily.

HSwMS Gotland (Gtd) Specification

Basic

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POWER

PERFORMANCE

ARMAMENT

AIR WING