HSwMS ''Södermanland'' (Söd) is a Swedish naval submarine, launched in 1988 and currently in active service. She is the third ship of the and named after

Södermanland Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanla ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Development

The submarine design combined the best properties from the and the . Submarines of the ''Västergötland'' class had greater submarine hunting capacity than previous classes, partly due to the fact that they were equipped with a new modern submarine torpedo. The submarines in the ''Västergötland'' class were able to fire up to six heavy and six light wire-guided

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

es at the same time against different targets. The ''Västergötland'' class included the submarines HSwMS ''Södermanland'' and . After significant upgrades, these two submarines were reclassified to a new .

Career

Between 2000 and 2004, ''Södermanland'' and ''Östergötland'' underwent extensive modifications, were extended by and fitted with air-independent Stirling engines. At the same time, the submarines would be modified to handle international missions with operations in hot and salty waters. The conversion of the two submarines became so extensive that Kockums decided to reclassify the submarines to a new ''Södermanland'' class. During 2022, ''Södermanland'' underwent yet another life extension program, in order to be operational until 2028. As ''Östergötland'' was decommissioned in 2021, ''Södermanland'' is the only remaining submarine in its class.

References

Västergötland-class submarines Ships built in Malmö 1988 ships Archer-class submarines Republic of Singapore Navy {{submarine-stub