Vice admiral (Sweden)

This article is about a Swedish Navy rank. For other countries that use a Vice Admiral rank, see Vice Admiral.

Vice admiral (VAdm; Swedish: Viceamiral, Vam) is a three-star commissioned naval officer rank in the Swedish Navy. Vice admiral ranks above rear admiral and below admiral. Vice admiral is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant general.^[3]

Vice admiral
Flag of the vice admiral, Swedish Navy.
Shoulder mark of a Swedish three-star vice admiral.
Sleeve insignia of a Swedish three-star vice admiral.
Country	Sweden
Service branch	Swedish Navy
Abbreviation	Vam (Swedish),[1] VAdm (English)[2]
Rank	Three-star[lower-alpha 1]
NATO rank code	OF-08
Non-NATO rank	O-9
Formation	1575
Next higher rank	Admiral
Next lower rank	Rear admiral
Equivalent ranks	Lieutenant general

History

In Sweden, the admiral's rank first appeared during the reign of Gustav I, who in 1522 gave it to Erik Fleming, a Council of the Realm. During Gustav's reign as king and throughout the latter part of the 16th century, the highest command of a fleet was led by a översteamiral ("colonel admiral"), to whose assistant a underamiral was appointed. It was not until 1569 that a permanent översteamiral was appointed; In 1602 the title was exchanged for riksamiral ("Admiral of the Realm"). The first permanent underamiral was appointed in 1575; his office ceased in 1619. Vice admiral is first mentioned in 1577. The admirals of the Swedish Navy have, incidentally, been as follows: generalamiral ("general admiral"), amiralgeneral ("admiral general"), storamiral ("grand admiral"), överamiral, riksviceamiral ("Vice Admiral of the Realm"), amiralgenerallöjtnant ("admiral lieutenant general"), amirallöjtnant ("lieutenant admiral"), schoutbynacht and konteramiral ("rear admiral").^[4] Vice admirals were in ancient times called lieutenant admirals.^[5] Between 1680 and 1771, vice admiral ranked between admiral and schoutbynacht.^[6] It was then replaced by rear admiral.

When the vice admiral was commander of the squadrons, he carried the Swedish naval ensign with two white stars in the lower blue field as a sign of command.^[3] Vice admiral is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant general^[3] in the Swedish Army, the Swedish Air Force, the Swedish Coastal Artillery (until 2000) and as well as in the Swedish Amphibious Corps (from 2000). Historically, the Chief of the Navy (1936–1994) and the Chief of Navy Staff (1994–1998) positions was a flag officer with the rank of vice admiral. Historically, during the 20th century, vice admirals were promoted one grade upon retirement to full four-star admiral. The last time this happened was in 1991 when vice admiral Bror Stefenson was promoted to admiral in connection with his retirement from the navy.^[7] According to current practice only royals and the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, if he were to come from the Swedish Navy, can hold the rank of a full, four-star, admiral in Sweden.

Following a proposal from the Swedish Armed Forces, the Government of Sweden decides on employment as a vice admiral.^[8]

In everyday speech, vice admirals are addressed as admirals.^[9][10]

Uniform

Shoulder mark

The shoulder mark of a Swedish vice admiral contains a 45 mm galloon m/51 and three^{[lower-alpha 2]} 25 mm star m/30 in silver embroidery on a white background: The center distance between the stars on the shoulder mark must be 27 mm.^[11]

• 
  Shoulder mark of a Swedish vice admiral (1972–present)
• 
  Shoulder mark of a Swedish vice admiral (1878–1972)

Sleeve insignia

A flag officer wears on the sleeves a 45 mm galloon (GALON M/51 45MM K) and a rank insignia (GRADBETECKNING M/02 TILL ÄRM FLOTTAN) (round loop, the Amphibious Corps has a pointed loop in form of a grenade).^[12]

• 
  Sleeve insignia for a vice admiral (2003–present)
• 
  Vice Admiral Jonas Haggren with current sleeve insignia for a vice admiral (2003–present)
• 
  Sleeve insignia for a vice admiral (1972–2003)
• 
  Vice Admiral Bengt Schuback with old sleeve insignia for a vice admiral (1972–2003)
• 
  Sleeve insignia for a vice admiral (1878–1972)
• 
  Vice Admiral Åke Lindemalm with old sleeve insignia for a vice admiral (1878–1972)

Hats

Peaked cap

A flag officer wears as embellishments a gold embroidered oak leaf wreath (known as scrambled egg) on the visor of the peaked cap (skärmmössa m/48). It also fitted with a hat badge (mössmärke m/78 off för flottan) and with a strap in form of a golden braid.^[13]

• 
  Peaked cap worn by Vice Admiral Stig H:son Ericson.
• 
  Hat badge

Side cap and winter hat

An officer wears a hat badge (mössmärke m/78 off) for the navy and another (mössmärke m/87 off) for amphibious units on the side cap (båtmössa m/48) and on the winter hat (vintermössa m/87).^[14]

Personal flags

Admiral's command flag, which admirals of all ranks carry on ships, where they are as commanders. On a three-masted ship, a vice admiral's flag flies on the top of the fore-mast (admiral's flies on top of the main mast and rear admiral's on top of the mizzen-mast).^[15] The command flag of a vice admiral (and a lieutenant general) is a double swallowtailed Swedish flag. In the first blue field 3 five-pointed white stars placed one over two^[16] (before 1972 by two in the same place).

The flag of the vice admiral (and admiral and rear admiral) is flown on ships of the navy, from which officer of the rank now mentioned exercises his command, or on which he travels in the service, but not on ships on which he is in the capacity of exercise leader.^[17]

A flag officer (for example vice admiral) who holds the position of Supreme Commander, Chief of Operations, Chief of Navy, Chief of Maritime Component Command or naval force commander, may carry an admiral flag on a car in which the commander in question travels in uniform. On airplanes/helicopters, vice admirals (flag officers) may carry a command sign in the form of an image of an admiral flag.^[18]

• 
  Vice admiral flag (1972–present)
• 
  Vice admiral flag (1905–1972)
• 
  Vice admiral command flag (1875–1905)
• 
  Vice admiral command flag (1815–1844)

Gun salute

When raising or lowering flags of the commander's, squadron, department or division commander, a gun salute is given with 15 rounds for vice admiral (17 for admiral and 13 for rear admiral).^[19]

List of vice admirals

  This along with the * (asterisk) indicates that the officer was subsequently promoted to admiral.
  This along with the ^ (arrowhead) indicates that the officer is a currently serving vice admiral.

The following people have held the rank of vice admiral in the Swedish Navy from 1900–present:

Name	Year of promotion	Senior command(s) or appointment(s) in rank	Notes
Hjalmar af Klintberg*	1901	Chief of the Fleet Staff (1889–1903)
Carl Hjulhammar	1911[lower-alpha 3]
Oscar Bernadotte	1903[lower-alpha 4]		[20]
Wilhelm Dyrssen*	1901	Inspector of the Navy's Exercises at Sea (1907–16)
Carl Olsen	1908	Chief of the Royal Swedish Naval Materiel Administration (1905–10), Highest Commander of the Coastal Fleet (1906–08)
Ludvig Sidner	1911	Station commander in Karlskrona (1910–13), Chief of the Naval Staff (1913–16)
Carl August Ehrensvärd*	1917	Inspector of the Navy's Exercises at Sea (1916–18), Highest Commander of the Coastal Fleet (1919)
Gustaf Dyrssen	1917	Chief of the Royal Swedish Naval Materiel Administration (1910–20)	[21]
Gustaf Lagercrantz	1919[lower-alpha 3]
Henning von Krusenstierna*	1923	Chief of the Naval Staff (1916–27)
Carl Alarik Wachtmeister	1925	Station commander in Stockholm (1923–25)
Henry Lindberg	1925[lower-alpha 3]		[22]
Fredrik Riben	1930	Station commander in Stockholm (1926–33)	[23]
John Schneidler	1932	Chief of the Royal Swedish Naval Materiel Administration (1925–33)	[24]
Otto Lybeck*	1932	Chief of the Naval Staff (1927–36)
Charles de Champs	1934	East Coast Naval District (1933–36), Chief of the Naval Staff (1936–37), Chief of the Navy (1936–39)
Harald Åkermark	1934	Chief of the Royal Swedish Naval Materiel Administration (1933–38), West Coast Naval District (1939–42)
Fabian Tamm*	1939	Chief of the Navy (1939–45)
Claës Lindsström	1942[lower-alpha 3]
Hans Simonsson	1945[lower-alpha 3]
Helge Strömbäck	1945	Chief of the Navy (1945–53)
Gunnar Bjurner	1947[lower-alpha 3]
Gösta Ehrensvärd	1950[lower-alpha 3]
Stig H:son Ericson*	1953	Chief of the Navy (1953–61)
Erik Anderberg	1957[lower-alpha 3]
Erik Samuelson	1958[lower-alpha 3]
Åke Lindemalm*	1961	Chief of the Navy (1961–70)
Gunnar Jedeur-Palmgren	1962[lower-alpha 3]
Erik af Klint	1966[lower-alpha 3]
Bertil Berthelsson	1967[lower-alpha 3]
Oscar Krokstedt	1968	Southern Military District (1968–72)
Sigurd Lagerman	1968[lower-alpha 3]
Bengt Lundvall*	1970	Chief of the Navy (1970–78)
Holger Henning	1970[lower-alpha 3]
Einar Blidberg	1971[lower-alpha 3]
Karl Segrell	1971[lower-alpha 3]
Bengt Schuback	1978	Chief of the Defence Staff (1978–82), Southern Military District (1982–84), Chief of the Navy (1984–90)
Bror Stefenson*	1982	Chief of the Defence Staff (1982–87), Swedish National Defence College (1987–88), Eastern Military District (1988–91), Commandant General in Stockholm (1988–91)
Dick Börjesson	1990	Chief of the Navy (1990–94), Middle Military District (1994–98), Commandant General in Stockholm (1994–98)
Peter Nordbeck	1994	Chief of Navy Staff (1994–98), Naval Command (1994–98)
Frank Rosenius	1998	Deputy Supreme Commander (1998–2000)
Jan Thörnqvist	2016	Chief of Joint Operations (2016–2020), Commandant General in Stockholm (2019–20)
Jonas Haggren^	2019	Chief of Defence Staff (2018–2022), Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters (2018–2022), Swedish Armed Forces Special Forces (2018–2022), Commandant General in Stockholm (2018–2019)
Ewa Skoog Haslum^	2024	Chief of Joint Operations (2024–present)

Footnotes

1. Vice admiral was a two-star rank until 1972 and admiral was the three-star rank in the Swedish Armed Forces rank structure.
2. Three stars has been used for a vice admiral since 1972. Before that it was two stars.
3. Upon retirement.
4. Promoted to vice admiral on 27 November 1903; he was discharge on 11 December of the same year with permission to remain as vice admiral in the Swedish Navy reserve.^[20]

References

Notes

1. "Försvarsmaktens föreskrifter om personaltjänst (FFS 2019:6)" (PDF) (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 2019-12-02. p. 3. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
2. "Försvarsmaktens gemensamma identitet – direktiv för användandet av Försvarsmaktens namn, profil och bild" (PDF). 1.3 (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 2013-09-16. p. 66. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-02-23. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
3. Rosén & Westrin 1893, p. 850
4. Meijer 1904, pp. 851–852
5. Fåhræus 1872, p. 155
6. Unger 1909, p. 301
7. "Unik amiral i smyg". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 1992-01-12. p. 15. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
8. "Förordning om ändring i förordningen (2000:555) med instruktion för Försvarsmakten" (PDF) (in Swedish). Swedish Code of Statutes. 20 June 2005. p. 2. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
9. Etikett och god ton: Praktisk handbok i sättet att uppföra sig. 1 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Åhlén & Åkerlund. 1932. p. 130. SELIBR 1353820.
10. Handbok: parad 6: traditionsvård : H PARAD 6 2016 (PDF) (in Swedish). Stockholm: Försvarsmakten. 2017. p. 31. SELIBR 22459606.
11. Laestadius 2015, pp. 460–461
12. Laestadius 2015, pp. 449–450
13. Laestadius 2015, pp. 422–424
14. Laestadius 2015, p. 424
15. Stenfelt 1920, p. 11
16. Braunstein 2004, p. 111
17. Stenfelt 1920, p. 640
18. Reglemente: parad 2: flaggor, fälttecken & heraldik : R PARAD 2 2017 (PDF) (in Swedish). Stockholm: Försvarsmakten. 2017. pp. 22, 68. SELIBR 21483386.
19. Stenfelt 1920, p. 454
20. Mannström 1922, p. 775
21. Lindblad 1924, p. 165
22. Wedin 1980–1981, p. 243
23. Dahl & Bohman 1949, p. 273
24. Vem är det 1940, p. 729.

Sources

• Braunstein, Christian (2004). Svenska försvarsmaktens fälttecken efter millennieskiftet [The flags and standards of the Swedish armed forces after the turn of the millennium] (PDF). Skrift / Statens försvarshistoriska museer, 1101-7023 ; 7 [dvs 8] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Statens försvarshistoriska museer. ISBN 91-971584-7-X. SELIBR 9815350. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
• Dahl, Torsten; Bohman, Nils, eds. (1949). Svenska män och kvinnor: biografisk uppslagsbok. 6 P-Sheldon (in Swedish). Stockholm: Bonnier. SELIBR 53805.
• Fåhræus, Edvard (1872). Administratif och statistisk handbok, såsom bihang till Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish) (3rd ed.). Stockholm. SELIBR 81800.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Laestadius, Patrik, ed. (2015). Reglemente: uniformsbestämmelser 2015 : Unibest FM 2015 (PDF) (in Swedish). Stockholm: Swedish Armed Forces. SELIBR 19513428. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 January 2019.
• Lindblad, Göran, ed. (1924). Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok. 1925 [Who is it: Swedish biographical handbook. 1925] (in Swedish). Stockholm: P. A. Norstedt & Söners. SELIBR 6gnl7s754g5f6x82.
• Mannström, Oscar (1922). "Oscar C A Bernadotte". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (in Swedish). Vol. 3. National Archives of Sweden. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
• Meijer, Bernhard, ed. (1904). Nordisk familjebok: konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi (in Swedish). Vol. 1 (New, rev. and rich ill. ed.). Stockholm: Nordisk familjeboks förl. SELIBR 8072220.
• Rosén, John; Westrin, Theodor, eds. (1893). Nordisk familjebok: konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi innehållande upplysningar och förklaringar om märkvärdiga namn, föremål och begrepp (in Swedish). Vol. 17. Stockholm. SELIBR 78095.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Stenfelt, Gustaf (1920). Svenskt nautiskt lexikon: praktisk uppslagsbok för sjömän och maskinfolk, skeppsredare, konsulatpersonal, sjöassuradörer, skeppsmäklare, jurister m.fl (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 28204.
• Unger, Gunnar (1909). Illustrerad svensk sjökrigshistoria: afsedd för undervisningen vid k. sjökrigsskolan Förra delen Omfattande tiden intill 1680 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Albert Bonniers förlag. SELIBR 648419.
• Wedin, Folke (1980–1981). "Henry F Lindberg". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (in Swedish). Vol. 23. National Archives of Sweden. p. 292. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
• Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok. 1943 [Who is it: Swedish biographical handbook. 1943] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt. 1940. SELIBR 10335454.