Näcken class submarine

HMS Näcken
Class overview
Builders:	Kockums
Operators:	Swedish Navy  Royal Danish Navy
Preceded by:	Sjöormen
Succeeded by:	Västergötland
Planned:	3
Completed:	3
Laid up:	3
General characteristics
Displacement:	980 tonnes (960 long tons) surfaced 1,150 tonnes (1,130 long tons) submerged
Length:	44 m (144 ft 4 in)
Beam:	5.7 m (18 ft 8 in)
Draught:	5.5 m (18 ft 1 in)
Propulsion:	2 × MTU diesel engines 1 × Jeumont-Schneider electric motor 1 shaft
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) surfaced 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) submerged
Test depth:	150 m (490 ft)
Complement:	19 (5 officers)
Sensors and processing systems:	FAS
Armament:	• 6 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes • 2 × 400 mm (16 in) torpedo tubes • Mines

The Näcken class submarines, also known as the A14 type, were built for the Swedish Navy in the late 1970s. The boats were authorised in 1972 and the programme was completed in 1981. All boats were built by Kockums in Karlskrona. The boats had a teardrop hull and diving depth was 150m. Between 1987 and 1988 the Näcken was converted to Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) using a closed cycle Stirling engine. This technology increased underwater endurance to 14 days and has been adopted in subsequent Swedish submarines.

By the early 2000s the class was decommissioned from the Swedish navy. The HMS Näcken was temorary leased to the Danish navy but was returned in 2005. As of 2011 the three submarines are laid up at the Karlskrona naval base.

Ships

Ship	Launched	Commissioned	Current status
Näcken	17 April 1978	25 April 1980	Leased to Danish Navy 2001-2005 as Kronborg, in storage in Karlskrona
Neptun	6 Dec 1978	5 Dec 1980	in storage in Karlskrona. Will be restored and put on display.[1]
Najad	13 Aug 1979	26 June 1981	in storage in Karlskrona

References

Notes

1. ^ http://www.marinmuseum.se/Aktuellt/Ubatshallen.aspx

Bibliography

• Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995

External links

• Kockums page
• Danish Naval history page