HSwMS ''Västergötland'' (Vgd) was the lead ship of the s, named after Västergötland,

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 ...

. The submarine was launched on 19 July 1986 and entered service with the

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 ...

on 20 October 1988. ''Västergötland'' served with the Swedish Navy until 1997 when the submarine was decommissioned. In 2005 ''Västergötland'' and sister boat were sold to Singapore, where ''Västergötland'' was renamed RSS ''Swordsman'' and entered service on 30 April 2013.

Development

The submarine design combined the best properties from the preceding and es. 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 torpedoes at the same time against different targets, a world record of perhaps dubious benefit that probably still stands today. The ''Västergötland'' class included the submarines and . After significant upgrades, these two submarines were reclassified to a new .

Service in Sweden

The submarine served in the

for almost 25 years and was then sold to Singapore in 2005 together with .

Service in Singapore

HSwMS ''Västergötland'' was renamed RSS ''Swordsman.'' Singapore's

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

(MINDEF) signed an agreement with Kockums for the supply of two (formerly ''Västergötland''-class) submarines to the

Republic of Singapore Navy The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is the naval service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for defending the country against any sea-borne threats, and the protection of its sea lines of communications, that would comprom ...

(RSN) on 4 November 2005. More than 20 years old and previously in reserve with the Swedish Navy, the submarines were transferred to the RSN on completion of the modernisation and conversion for operation in tropical waters. RSS ''Archer'' was launched on 16 June 2009. RSS ''Archer'' underwent sea trials following its launch and is now operational. The second submarine, RSS ''Swordsman'', was launched on 20 October 2010. The ''Archer''-class submarines entered service in 2013 and replaced the s that were retired in 2015. In October 2018, RSS Swordsman participated in Exercise Bersama Lima as part of the Five-Power-Defence-Arrangement exercise and was noted to have performed well, remaining undetected by the participating ships in the anti-submarine warfare exercise. In November 2018, the Republic of Singapore Navy announced on its official Facebook page that RSS ''Swordsman'' successfully conducted a live torpedo firing in the Andaman Sea.

Gallery

File:HMS Västergötland vapen.svg, HSwMS ''Västergötland''s badge. File:Singapore Navy RSS Swordsman Archer class Submarine IMDEX 2019 Changi Singapore.jpg, RSS ''Swordsman'' alongside Changi Naval Base in 2019.

References

Västergötland-class submarines Ships built in Malmö 1986 ships Archer-class submarines Republic of Singapore Navy {{submarine-stub