Thank you for posting. A very well made and interesting documentary about one of the two ships that my dad served on during WWII. He ended up onboard HMS Gotland after the destroyer HMS Göteborg sunk in the Hårsfjärden catastrophe which thankfully occurred while he was on liberty ashore.
I'm glad you cover such a variety of ships and nations. It makes a change from the usual same ships over and over and over again. Si vis pacem, para bellum
I remember when I was a kid and I read a book that one of my Cousins has which featured the Gotland. I was amazed with the design, a Cruiser armed with guns and torpedoes but that could also operate as a seaplane carrier and a minelayer. I did a model of it back in the day, I should make a new one someday. 😀
I would like to see the Finnish Navy during covered. Small but surprisingly effective against the Soviets! The Vetehinen-class submarines are a great topic to cover!
It would be interesting to learn about the Swedish Navy in 1944 and 1945 when Kriegsmarine was frantically withdrawing German troops and civilians from East Prussia and the whole Russian front. How did the Swedish ship protect their home waters with everything that the Germans could put to sea were taking every possible route to safety. Tehy must have infringed Swedish neutrality on many occasions. The Swedish fleet must have picked up thousands of refugees.
A big part of the Baltic Sea is not Swedish territorial waters, so there was no need for "Operation Hannibal" (the evacuation of East Prussia) to infringe on Swedish territorial waters. I am not aware of any Swedish ship involved in any rescues during "Operation Hannibal" Germany was very afraid of provoke Sweden during the later part of the war, and give Sweden a Casus Belli to enter the war. Sweden was actively preparing to liberate Denmark and Norway, if the German troops did not surrender. But they was more then happy to surrender to the Swedish trained and equipped Danish and Norwegian police force, not the police force did have its own fighter plane and heavy artillery, and the whole Swedish field army was ready to back them up.
The Swedes really tried to get the most out of Gotland, given their limited naval budget, so it would have been interesting to imagine what they would have done with more funding.
I worked the 1990s and 2000s at sea with Norwegians. I was cheeky asking them if Norway is on the west coast of Sweden. Some laughed, but some laughed and raged at the same time. They won their independence back from Sweden, which I knew and is what I was trying to trigger them over. Funny enough, during those two decades not a single Swede was on the crew of those Norwegian run ships. I do not know why. The only living Swede I know much about is Yngwie J Malmsteen. A freakishly good guitar player. Mr Ikea is not really a public figure, so the only thing about him is he likes people following difficult to read instructions to assemble. I know Russia won Finland from Sweden and then the Finns got their independence during the Russian revolution. Sweden was the early modern era empire that Europe feared, but have mostly minded their own business since then. Not easy, because there have been plenty of very stormy diplomatic waters to navigate through those times. I kind of respect that (there are historical caveats, but I will not go there).
I think considering her small size already, I’m surprised the Swedes didn’t bring her in for a full rebuild into a modern missile guided destroyer. I mean it would’ve involved ripping out her power plant and probably removing all but for the forward turret. But she could’ve been very good at launching and recovering helicopters, had plenty of space for anti submarine gear and missiles, along with a good armament of secondary anti aircraft weapons. She would’ve been one of a kind but a very capable destroyer.
The kings power did change from absolutism, to ceremonially, so the king could no longer overturn the naval architect, and demand a extra gun deck, on a half-built ship.
Thank you for posting. A very well made and interesting documentary about one of the two ships that my dad served on during WWII. He ended up onboard HMS Gotland after the destroyer HMS Göteborg sunk in the Hårsfjärden catastrophe which thankfully occurred while he was on liberty ashore.
I'm glad you cover such a variety of ships and nations. It makes a change from the usual same ships over and over and over again.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
I remember when I was a kid and I read a book that one of my Cousins has which featured the Gotland. I was amazed with the design, a Cruiser armed with guns and torpedoes but that could also operate as a seaplane carrier and a minelayer. I did a model of it back in the day, I should make a new one someday. 😀
I would like to see the Finnish Navy during covered. Small but surprisingly effective against the Soviets!
The Vetehinen-class submarines are a great topic to cover!
It would be interesting to learn about the Swedish Navy in 1944 and 1945 when Kriegsmarine was frantically withdrawing German troops and civilians from East Prussia and the whole Russian front. How did the Swedish ship protect their home waters with everything that the Germans could put to sea were taking every possible route to safety. Tehy must have infringed Swedish neutrality on many occasions. The Swedish fleet must have picked up thousands of refugees.
A big part of the Baltic Sea is not Swedish territorial waters, so there was no need for "Operation Hannibal" (the evacuation of East Prussia) to infringe on Swedish territorial waters. I am not aware of any Swedish ship involved in any rescues during "Operation Hannibal"
Germany was very afraid of provoke Sweden during the later part of the war, and give Sweden a Casus Belli to enter the war.
Sweden was actively preparing to liberate Denmark and Norway, if the German troops did not surrender. But they was more then happy to surrender to the Swedish trained and equipped Danish and Norwegian police force, not the police force did have its own fighter plane and heavy artillery, and the whole Swedish field army was ready to back them up.
Belt armor: “just enough to make sure there’s enough shrapnel for everybody.”
The Swedes really tried to get the most out of Gotland, given their limited naval budget, so it would have been interesting to imagine what they would have done with more funding.
This is interesting, can you please do a ship from the Royal Thai navy like the Thonburi class, HTMS Sri Ayudhya.
Great vid, I really like the Gotland's design.
Could you make a vid on the Spanish seaplane carrier Dedalo please?
I worked the 1990s and 2000s at sea with Norwegians. I was cheeky asking them if Norway is on the west coast of Sweden. Some laughed, but some laughed and raged at the same time. They won their independence back from Sweden, which I knew and is what I was trying to trigger them over. Funny enough, during those two decades not a single Swede was on the crew of those Norwegian run ships. I do not know why.
The only living Swede I know much about is Yngwie J Malmsteen. A freakishly good guitar player. Mr Ikea is not really a public figure, so the only thing about him is he likes people following difficult to read instructions to assemble. I know Russia won Finland from Sweden and then the Finns got their independence during the Russian revolution. Sweden was the early modern era empire that Europe feared, but have mostly minded their own business since then. Not easy, because there have been plenty of very stormy diplomatic waters to navigate through those times. I kind of respect that (there are historical caveats, but I will not go there).
Great job thank you
A fleet of gotland style ships could have been amazing for pacific recon
Honestly, that's a pretty good ship for 4600 tons.
I think considering her small size already, I’m surprised the Swedes didn’t bring her in for a full rebuild into a modern missile guided destroyer. I mean it would’ve involved ripping out her power plant and probably removing all but for the forward turret. But she could’ve been very good at launching and recovering helicopters, had plenty of space for anti submarine gear and missiles, along with a good armament of secondary anti aircraft weapons. She would’ve been one of a kind but a very capable destroyer.
An afterdeck loaded w/ RB-05s
Fascinating little mutant; wargaming her is a headache
Yesssss!
semper fi,,semper fortis
How did this navy go from Vasa to this?
The kings power did change from absolutism, to ceremonially, so the king could no longer overturn the naval architect, and demand a extra gun deck, on a half-built ship.
They should have put rocket interceptors on the rear deck.