Olaus Magnus - On Rocks Decorated with Helmets

Älvsnabben is a small island near

Muskö Muskö is an island in the southern part of Stockholm archipelago, which forms part of Haninge Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. It is best known for the Muskö Naval Base. There are also two urban areas (''tätort'') on the island: Muskö ...

in the archipelago south of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The name may also refer to a

natural harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be moored. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

, more correctly called Älvsnabbsbassängen (''Älvsnabben Basin''), between the four small islands Älvsnabben, Bjurshagslandet, Kapellön and Gubbholmen. Älvsnabben (then ''Alæsnap'') was mentioned as an anchoring place as early as the 13th century, then a part of a medieval sailing route, in the

Danish Census Book The Danish Census Book or the Danish book of land taxation (, ) dates from the 13th century and consists of a number of separate manuscripts. The original manuscripts are now housed in the Danish National Archives (''Rigsarkivet'') in Copenhage ...

of king

Valdemar II Valdemar II Valdemarsen (28 June 1170 – 28 March 1241), later remembered as Valdemar the Victorious () and Valdemar the Conqueror, was King of Denmark from 1202 until his death in 1241. In 1207, Valdemar invaded and conquered Lybeck and Hol ...

. It was also used by the North German trade federation, the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

, who called it ''Elsnaben''. From the reign of king

Eric XIV of Sweden Erik XIV or Eric XIV (13 December 153326 February 1577) became King of Sweden following the death of his father, Gustav I, on 29 September 1560. During a 1568 rebellion against him, Erik was incarcerated by his half-brother John III. He w ...

, it was used as a base for the

Swedish navy The Swedish Navy () is the maritime service branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet (), formally sometimes referred to as the Royal Navy () – as well as marine units, the Amph ...

. As such, it is known that the ''Vasa'' was heading for the marine base on Älvsnabben when it was launched in August 1628. History tells usVasa, by F. Hocker, Medströms Bokförlag, Stockholm, Sweden. . that the Vasa sank short after its launch, only 1200 meters from the king's castle in Stockholm. Älvsnabben was the base of operation for the naval operations and shipping of Swedish troops to Germany during the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, whil ...

and throughout the 17th century. During the

Scanian War The Scanian War (; ; ; ) was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg and Swedish Empire, Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish ...

of 1675-79, Sweden suffered a string of serious defeats against Danish and Dutch fleets, in part since Stockholm and Älvsnabben were locked in by ice in the winter and early spring. After the war, the main base of operations for the Swedish navy was moved to the newly founded

Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to ...

Blekinge Blekinge () is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second-smallest provin ...

in southern Sweden, which was better suited to counter the threat of the Danish fleet, Sweden's principal competition for Baltic supremacy. In the 20th century, Älvsnabben once more came to military use by the building of the

Muskö Naval Base Muskö Naval Base () is a Swedish Navy underground naval facility on the island of Muskö just south of Stockholm in Haninge Municipality. The construction of the base started in 1950 and was completed 19 years later in 1969. During the cons ...

. A shelter for navy vessels was cut in the rock of Älvsnabben, and both the island and the Älvsnabben basin is still a restricted military area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Älvsnabben Islands of Haninge Municipality Islands of the Stockholm archipelago Military history of Sweden