Winter 1849

In 1838 the admiralty decided only to refurbish and replace old ships in the fleet, keeping it the same size. After the war with Russia 1839-41 the admiralty was headed by war heroes who saw the devastating impact of the Russian steam ships, they decided in 1842 that the Swedish high seas fleet was to become the grandest and most modern in the Baltic. Perhaps the conclusions drawn in 1838 was too conservative? Or perhaps the conclusions drawn in 1842 was too ambitious?

The expansion of the fleet neared the end of its first phase, 1842-50. The promised amount of ships were not provided. The frigates Mars, Eugenie and Norrköping had all completed on time and were seaworthy traditional ships. However, the planned 25 steam gunboats came short, the allotted 500.000 riksdaler back in 1842 had only been enough to pay for 5 ships.

Although the budged had actively stopped further construction of gunboats additional money were funnelled to the grand union flagship, Stockholm. But it did not matter for the massive ship was constructed to be unsinkable. With a hull similar to that of a 74-gun ship-of-line (one of two largest ships in the Swedish fleet) the ship was also outfitted with four boilers to drive its propeller and the upper hull was coated with iron plates “…skeppet äro hård mot kulor och omöjlig att sänka”. The statement was quite right, unfortunately you cannot sink something that does not float. The ship was too heavy to leave port. Stockholm, the pride of the union was forced to cut away its upper deck and remove two of its boilers and nearly 30 cannons to be make it seaworthy. A now less impressive 48-gun ship made its maiden voyage in 1848. It sailed gently down the Gothenburg inlet towards the archipelago and shot a salute to the king before making its way back to port in Gothenburg where it would remain stationed. It was not the warship it was imagined to be and would be used as a school ship to train naval officers during peace time.

In a letter to king Oscar I,

To his HMK Oscar,

It is not in jubilation that I must come to inform you that the grand flagship Stockholm has set sail. Although the ship is seaworthy after some modifications it is no longer a warship, but merely an armoured steamboat. We have offered its services to train the naval officers from the Karlberg academy in Sweden-Norway.

No newspaper has been allowed to report on the issue other than the ship making its maiden voyage and presenting the union with a powerful steamship to train officers for the dawn of new warfare during peacetime.

It is suggested to HMK that the admiralty construction plans of 1842 be revoked in favour of an approach similar to the conservative plans of 1838.

Preserving our current numbers are key. Our fleet stand at 8 capital ships, 13 warships and 5 steam gunboats. To replace old ships would take at least until 1865, however, the Stockholm failure does not allow much room to build new capital ships if war was to break out. We should therefore aim to supply the high seas fleet with at least fifteen agile frigates instead and simply wait until we can afford such ventures. Additionally we should convert ships to have propellers.

The admiralty’s new plans will be summarised here to HMK to see before presenting them officially in the June commission next year;

• Construction: 1851-53
  • Funding: 200.000
  • Steam frigate: Tor á 15 cannons and Valkyrian á 10 cannons
• Construction: 1855-60
  • Funding: 600.000 Kr
  • Heavy frigate: Äran and Korpen á 38 cannons each
  • Light frigate Ragvald and Vanadis á 26 cannons each

It is fortunate that Stockholm was downsized since the canons and boilers will be reused for Tor and Valkyrian, decreasing costs. This much more realistic plan and funding will keep the Swedish fleet at a stable number. A reasonably affordable fleet for Sweden would consist of 8 capital ships, 5 heavy frigates, 10 light frigates, 5 steam frigates and at least 50 smaller gunships within the Baltic sea. I am not considering the new Finish fleet here. This is the ideal situation for Sweden-Norway in terms of size and upkeep to protect its interests in the Baltic Sea and abroad.

Admiral Carl Fredrik Covet