Welcome to experience a journey through the history of the Swedish naval defense. A history that spans over 500 years, from 1522 to our days. Sweden is facing the sea. Our coasts and our trade have always needed to be protected. That is why for many hundreds of years we have had a naval defence – a navy and a coastal defence.
In the spring of 1522, there is a war in Sweden. The young nobleman Gustav Vasa has been elected Swedish regent and leads the opposition to the Danish Union King Christian II. Gustav Vasa realizes that he must have his own warships in order to defeat Denmark. He then turns to the mighty Hanseatic city of Lübeck, which sells ten fully equipped and manned ships to Gustav Vasa. In 1522 they sail in on the Swedish coast. Sweden's first fleet was born.
In the exhibition you will meet Clement Rentzel who is imprisoned after an alleged attempt to murder Gustav Vasa, boatman Matts Mattson Blomma who perishes when the ship Kronan explodes, the nurse Maria Magdalena Klopproth, the officer Otto Henrik Nordenskjöld and the ship's boy Per Wilhelm Cedergren. You will also get to know the Navy's versatile operations today and accompany a weapons technical officer on the corvette HMS Helsingborg.