Näcken-class submarine

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 completed between 1980 and 1981. All boats were built by Kockums in Karlskrona. The boats had a teardrop hull and diving depth was 150 metres (490 ft). Between 1987 and 1988, Näcken and her sister ships were cut in half and an 8-metre (26 ft) long hull section containing a prototype Air-independent propulsion (AIP) using a closed cycle Stirling engine was installed between the aft battery/propulsion & power control room and the engine/motor room. This technology increased underwater endurance to 14 days and has been adopted in subsequent Swedish submarines.

HSwMS Neptun
Class overview
Name	Näcken-class
Builders	Kockums
Operators	Swedish Navy Royal Danish Navy
Preceded by	Sjöormen-class
Succeeded by	Västergötland-class
Planned	3
Completed	3
Scrapped	2
Preserved	1
General characteristics
Type	Submarine
Displacement	1,030 tonnes (1,010 long tons) submerged
Length	49.5 m (162 ft 5 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

By the early 2000s the class was decommissioned from the Swedish navy as a result of defence cuts in the year 2000 Defence White Paper. HSwMS Näcken was temporary leased to the Royal Danish Navy but was returned in 2005.

Ships

Ship	Launched	Commissioned	Current status
Näcken	17 April 1978	25 April 1980	leased to the Royal Danish Navy 2001-2005 as Kronborg, scrapped in 2016
Neptun	6 December 1978	5 December 1980	on display at Marinmuseum Karlskrona
Najad	13 August 1979	26 June 1981	Scrapped in 2015

References

Bibliography

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