Chief of Navy (Sweden)

Chief of Navy (Swedish: Marinchef, MC) is the most senior appointment in the Swedish Navy. The position Chief of Navy was introduced in 1936 and the current form in 2014.

Chief of Navy Marinchef
Command flag of the Chief of Navy.
Incumbent Rear admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum since 21 January 2020
Swedish Navy
Abbreviation	MC
Member of	Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters
Reports to	The Chief of Swedish Armed Forces Training and Development[1]
Seat	Lidingövägen 24, Stockholm, Sweden
Nominator	Minister for Defence
Appointer	The Government
Formation	1936
First holder	Charles de Champs

History

Until 1936 the Swedish monarch was the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces and had formally maintained the Chief of the Navy position together with the Chief of the Military Office of the Minister of Defence in the Ministry of Defence, which is in fact maintained the position. The position of a single professional "Chief of the Navy" (Swedish: Chefen för marinen, CM) was established in 1936 in accordance with the Defence Act of 1936. The position of Chief of the Navy existed from 1936 to 1994 and during this time it was his responsibility to lead the navy units production and development. During the period 1936 to 1961 the Chief of the Navy also had an operational commanding responsibility for the naval forces.[2]

Following a larger reorganization of the Swedish Armed Forces in 1994, the staff agency Chief of the Navy ceased to exist as an independent agency. Instead, the post Chief of Navy Staff (Swedish: Chefen för marinledningen) was created at the then newly instituted Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters. In 1998, the Swedish Armed Forces was again reorganized. Most of the duties of the Chief of Navy Staff were transferred to the newly instituted post of "Inspector General of the Navy" (Swedish: Generalinspektören för marinen). The post is similar to that of the "Inspector General of the Swedish Army" (Swedish: Generalinspektören för armén) and the "Inspector General of the Swedish Air Force" (Swedish: Generalinspektören för flygvapnet).[3] It was later renamed to "Inspector of the Navy" (Swedish: Marininspektören).[2]

On 1 January 2014, the "Chief of Navy" (Swedish: Marinchefen, MC) position was reinstated in the Swedish Armed Forces. The position has not the same duties as before.[4]

Tasks

The newly-appointed chief, vice admiral Helge Strömbäck (left) shakes hand with the departing vice admiral Fabian Tamm, 1 April 1945.

Tasks of the Chief of Navy:[5]

• Lead the units which the Chief of Swedish Armed Forces Training and Development has distributed
• To the Chief of Swedish Armed Forces Training and Development propose the development of the units' abilities
• Being the foremost representative of the units
• Represent the units and the area of ability in international contacts

Heraldry

The command flag of the Chief of Navy is drawn by Brita Grep and embroidered by hand by the company Libraria. Blazon: "Fessed in yellow and blue; on yellow two blue batons of command with sets of yellow crowns placed two and one in saltire, on blue an anchor erect cabled over two gun barrels of older pattern in saltire, all yellow."[6]

List of chiefs

Chiefs of Navy

No.		Chief of the Navy Chefen för marinen	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref
1		de Champs, CharlesVice admiral Charles de Champs (1873–1959)	1936	1939	2–3 years	-
2		Tamm, FabianVice admiral Fabian Tamm (1879–1955)	1939	1945	5–6 years	-
3		Strömbäck, HelgeVice admiral Helge Strömbäck (1889–1960)	1 April 1945	30 September 1953	8 years, 182 days	[7]
4		H:son Ericson, StigVice admiral Stig H:son Ericson (1897–1985)	1 October 1953	1961	7–8 years	[8]
5		Lindemalm, ÅkeVice admiral Åke Lindemalm (1910–2004)	1961	30 September 1970	8–9 years	[9]
6		Lundvall, BengtVice admiral Bengt Lundvall (1915–2010)	1 October 1970	1978	7–8 years	[10]
7		Rudberg, PerVice admiral Per Rudberg (1922–2010)	1978	1984	5–6 years	-
8		Schuback, BengtVice admiral Bengt Schuback (1928–2015)	1984	1990	5–6 years	-
9		Börjesson, DickVice admiral Dick Börjesson (born 1938)	1990	30 June 1994	3–4 years	[11]

Chiefs of Navy Staff

No.		Chief of Navy Staff Chef för marinledningen	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref
10		Nordbeck, PeterVice admiral Peter Nordbeck (born 1938)	1 July 1994	1 July 1998	4 years, 0 days	[11][12]

Inspectors General of the Navy

No.		Inspector General of the Navy Generalinspektör för marinen	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref
11		Lindh, TorstenRear admiral Torsten Lindh (born 1941)	1 July 1998	2001	2–3 years	[13]
12		Ericsson, JörgenRear admiral Jörgen Ericsson (born 1953)	1 October 2001	2003	1–2 years	[14]

Inspectors of the Navy

No.		Inspector of the Navy Marininspektör	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref
12		Ericsson, JörgenRear admiral Jörgen Ericsson (born 1953)	2003	2005	1–2 years	-
13		Grenstad, AndersRear admiral Anders Grenstad (born 1958)	2005	2011	5–6 years	-
14		Thörnqvist, JanRear admiral Jan Thörnqvist (born 1959)	1 March 2011	2013	1–2 years	[15]

Chiefs of Navy

No.		Chief of Navy Marinchef	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref
14		Thörnqvist, JanRear admiral Jan Thörnqvist (born 1959)	1 January 2014	18 April 2016	2 years, 108 days	[16]
15		Nykvist, JensRear admiral Jens Nykvist (born 1968)	4 May 2016	21 January 2020	3 years, 262 days	[17]
16		Skoog Haslum, EwaRear admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum (born 1968)	21 January 2020	Incumbent	198 days	[18]

List of deputy chiefs

Deputy Chiefs of Navy

	Deputy Chief of Navy Ställföreträdande marinchef	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref
	Olovsson, AndersRear admiral (lower half) Anders Olovsson (born 1967)	?	Incumbent	-	[19]

See also

• Chief of Army (Sweden)
• Chief of Air Force (Sweden)

References

1. "PRODUKTIONSLEDNINGEN" (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
2. Försvarets traditioner i framtiden med översiktlig historik från 1500-talet (PDF) (in Swedish). Statens försvarshistoriska museer TradN. 2015. p. 12. ISBN 9789197859554. SELIBR 17552963. Archived from the original on 2016-08-17.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
3. Nordgren, Annika; et al. (24 February 1998). "Motion till riksdagen 1997/98:Fö3" (in Swedish). Riksdag. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
4. "Nya namn på nya poster" [New names for new positions] (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 20 December 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
5. Försvarets författningssamling: FFS 2013:4 (PDF) (in Swedish). Stockholm: TF-redaktionen, Försvarets materielverk. 2013-12-23. p. 18. ISSN 0347-7576. SELIBR 3683131.
6. Braunstein, Christian (2004). Svenska försvarsmaktens fälttecken efter millennieskiftet [The flags and standards of the Swedish armed forces after the turn of the millennium] (PDF). Skrift / Statens försvarshistoriska museer, 1101-7023 ; 7 [dvs 8] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Statens försvarshistoriska museer. p. 107. ISBN 91-971584-7-X. SELIBR 9815350. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
7. Gäfvert, Björn (2013). "Helge Hj I Strömbäck". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (in Swedish). 34. National Archives of Sweden. p. 20. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
8. "Amiral Stig Ericson chef för marinen". Expressen (in Swedish). 1953-03-06. p. 6. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
9. Skoglund, Claës (2009). Det bästa försvarsbeslut som aldrig kom till stånd: ett kontrafaktiskt uppslag (PDF). Publikation / Försvaret och det kalla kriget (FOKK), 1652-5388 ; 17 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Svenskt militärhistoriskt bibliotek. p. 48. ISBN 9789185789573. SELIBR 11704940.
10. "Synnergren ny ÖB Lundvall marinchef". Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning (in Swedish). TT. 10 January 1970. p. 5. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
11. "Sammanställning över utnämningar och nya befattningar" (PDF). Flygvapennytt (in Swedish). Stockholm: Flygstaben (1): 34. 1994. SELIBR 8257600.
12. Öhman, Anders (1998-07-17). "DN gratulerar: En sjöman går iland" [DN congratulates: A sailor goes ashore]. Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 November 2017.
13. Lindh, Torsten (2002). "Tre år som Generalinspektör för marinen - blev det som jag hade tänkt mig?" (PDF). Tidskrift i sjöväsendet (in Swedish). Carlskrona: Tidskrift i sjöväsendet (1): 15. SELIBR 8258455.
14. "Ny Generalinspektör för Marinen" [New Inspector General of the Navy]. www.skargardsbryggan.se (in Swedish). Skärgårdarnas Riksförbund. 1 October 2001. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
15. "Jan Thörnqvist blir ny marininspektör" [Jan Thörnqvist becomes new Inspector of the Navy] (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 11 January 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
16. "Jan Thörnqvist ny insatschef" (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
17. "Jens Nykvist ny marinchef" (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 4 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
18. "PÅ NY POST" (PDF). Försvarets forum: personaltidning för fast anställda och reservofficerare i svenska försvarsmakten (in Swedish). Stockholm: Försvarets forum (1): 8. 2020. SELIBR 4109339.
19. Lundqvist Rådmark, Henrik (2020). "EWA SKOOG HASLUMS MILSTOLPAR" (PDF). Försvarets forum: personaltidning för fast anställda och reservofficerare i svenska försvarsmakten (in Swedish). Stockholm: Försvarets forum (1): 24. SELIBR 4109339.