East Coast Naval Base ( sv, Ostkustens marinbas, MarinB O) was a

Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels o ...

command body which operated in various forms between the years 1928 and 2004. It was located in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

from 1928 to 1966 and then in

Haninge Municipality Haninge Municipality (''Haninge kommun'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Handen, a part of the Stockholm urban area. Haninge Municipality was formed in 1971 when ''Västerhaninge'' and ''Öst ...

from 1966 to 2004.

History

In accordance with the Defence Act of 1925, from 1928, six regional command and maintenance bodies for the

were organized within the respective coastal areas. During the 1930s, the regional naval structure was built in the form of naval districts (initially only in the war organization, but later in war as well as in peace). The East Coast Naval District (''Ostkustens marindistrikt'', MDO), based in

, stretched from Öregrundsgrepen, near

Gräsö Gräsö is an island in Östhammar Municipality, off the coast of Uppland province on the eastern coast of Sweden. It is also the name of a village on the island which lies at the southern end of the Gulf of Bothnia. The island has an area of and ...

(Björn's Lighthouse) to the northern part of

Kalmar Strait The Kalmar Strait ( sv, Kalmarsund) is a strait in the Baltic Sea, located between the Swedish island of Öland and the province of Småland of the Swedish mainland. The strait is about long and between and in width. There is a road bridge acr ...

(Kråkelund). The naval districts replaced the

naval station A Naval Station was a geographic command responsible for conducting all naval operations within its defined area. It may consist of flotillas, or squadrons, or individual ships under command. The British Royal Navy for command purposes was separ ...

s and were upgraded in 1957 to naval commands (''marinkommandon'') and was given operational responsibility (higher regional level). From 1966 to 1990 they were called naval bases (''örlogsbaser'') and patrol areas (''bevakningsområden''). In 1966, new and from then on integrated military districts were established, which took over some of the tasks of the naval commands. Other tasks were transferred simultaneously to the newly established naval bases (lower regional level). During the period 1981-1990, the naval bases were amalgamated with respective coastal artillery defence and formed naval commands - now at a lower regional level. For East Coast Naval Base (''Ostkustens örlogsbas'', ÖrlB O), this meant that it was amalgamated with Stockholm Coastal Artillery Defense (''Stockholms kustartilleriförsvar'', SK) and formed the East Coast Naval Command (''Ostkustens marinkommando'', MKO). The lower regional organization had command duties and was responsible for, among other things, maritime surveillance and maritime maintenance, base services. The majority of the regional structure was discontinued in 2000 and replaced with two naval bases and a naval shipyard. At the same time the Naval Tactical Command was established. The organization was formed on 1 July 2000 and took over certain parts of the operation after the East Coast Naval Command (''Ostkustens marinkommando'', MKO). The

Naval Base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that us ...

was formed on 1 January 2005 after the Defence Act of 2004. The Naval Base took over the main tasks previously relinquished to the East Coast Naval Base (''Ostkustens marinbas'', MarinB O) and the South Coast Naval Base. Today, it is the Naval Base, which has in principle taken over the remaining naval tasks of the lower regional structure.

Heraldry and traditions

Flag

The flag of the unit was a double swallow-tailed

Swedish flag The national flag of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges flagga) consists of a yellow or gold Nordic cross (i.e. a horizontal cross extending to the edges, with the crossbar closer to the hoist than the fly) on a field of light blue. The Nordic cross design t ...

. The flag was presented to the then East Coast Naval Command (MKO) in 1976.

Coat of arms

The coat of the arms of the East Coast Naval Base (ÖrlB O) 1966–1990, East Coast Naval Command (MKO) 1990–2000 and the East Coast Naval Base (MarinB O) 2000–2004.

Blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...

: "Per pale or and azure charged with an anchor erect surmounted two gunbarrels of older pattern in saltire counterchanged".

Medals

In 2005, the ''Ostkustens marinbas minnesmedalj'' ("East Coast Naval Base Commemorative Medal) in silver (MarinBOMSM) was established. The

medal ribbon A medal ribbon, service ribbon or ribbon bar is a small ribbon, mounted on a small metal bar equipped with an attaching device, which is generally issued for wear in place of a medal when it is not appropriate to wear the actual medal. Each cou ...

is dark blue with a yellow stripe on each side.

Heritage

The traditions of the East Coast Naval Base and its predecessors are kept by the

Commanding officers

Commanding officers: *1933–1936:

Charles de Champs Vice Admiral Charles Léon de Champs (10 October 1873 – 17 February 1959) was a Swedish Navy officer who was the Chief of the Naval Staff from 1936 to 1937 and the Chief of the Navy from 1936 to 1939. Early life de Champs was born on 10 Octo ...

*1936–1942:

Claës Lindsström Vice admiral (Sweden), Vice Admiral Claës Olof Lindsström (8 October 1876 – 3 January 1964) was a Swedish Navy officer. Lindsström's senior commands include postings as commanding officer of Karlskrona and Stockholm Naval Stations, the Naval ...

*1942–1945:

Hans Simonsson Hans Simonsson (born 1 May 1962) is a retired professional tennis player from Sweden. Primarily a doubles specialist, he won 11 ATP Tour titles in his career. He won the French Open doubles title in 1983 with his countryman Anders Järryd. He a ...

*1945–1951:

Yngve Ekstrand Rear Admiral Sven Yngve Ekstrand (22February 1888 – 30March 1951) was a Swedish Navy officer. He was Chief of the Naval Staff from 1939 to 1942, Chief of the Coastal Fleet from 1942 to 1945 and the East Coast Naval District from 194 ...

*1951–1957:

Erik Anderberg Vice Admiral Erik Magnus Anderberg (1 January 1892 – 28 February 1990) was a Swedish Navy officer. He is famous for being the grand architect of the notion of a unified Swedish signal intelligence authority. Anderberg served as captain of the ...

*1957–1966: Erik af Klint *1966–1971:

Einar Blidberg Vice Admiral Carl Einar Blidberg (20 September 1906 – 21 March 1993) was a Swedish Navy officer. Blidberg served as Chief of the Naval Staff from 1957 to 1961, Chief of the Coastal Fleet from 1962 to 1966, and as commanding officer of the Nav ...

*1971–1977: Lars H:son Lundberg *1977–1983: Christer Kierkegaard *1983–1986: Bengt O'Konor *1986–1988: Hans Tynnerström *1988–1993: Gunnar-Bo Ericson *1993–1996: Gunnar Bengtsson *1996–2000: Ulf Edman *2000–2001: Björn Nordbeck *2001–2003: Rolf Brehmer *2003–2004: Claes-Göran Hagström

Names, designations and locations

Footnotes

References

Notes

Print

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Web

* *{{cite web , url=http://xml.ra.se/Forvaltningshistorik/46-61_Forsvaret.htm , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200117111436/http://xml.ra.se/Forvaltningshistorik/46-61_Forsvaret.htm , publisher=

National Archives of Sweden , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , seal = Riksarkivet_myndighetsvapen_-_Riksarkivet_Sverige.png , seal_width = 150 , seal_caption = , logo = , logo_width = , logo_caption = , picture ...

, title=FÖRSVARETS REGIONALA OCH LOKALA ORGANISATION , trans-title=SWEDISH DEFENSE REGIONAL AND LOCAL ORGANIZATION , first1=Anders , last1=Degerström , first2=Lars , last2=Ericson , first3=Ulf , last3=Söderberg , date=June 2005 , access-date=17 May 2018 , archive-date=17 January 2020 , language=sv Naval units and formations of Sweden Military units and formations established in 1928 Military units and formations disestablished in 2004 Disbanded units and formations of Sweden 1928 establishments in Sweden 2004 disestablishments in Sweden Haninge Garrison