All ahead slow.

Mister Mac Note: If you are a sensitive soul and easily offended, this is probably not a great story for you to engage in. Check back later for more submarine related stories

Many years ago, when I was I the middle of my second career (2006), I went on my first trip to Sweden for a series of meetings. The main part of the meetings was in Gothenburg. The trip allowed for us to do a little sightseeing, and we got to experience some beautiful scenery and a few touristy things. On the waterfront is a large collection of ships called “Maritiman”. The billing states: A floating maritime museum where you can go to sea without ever casting off.

While I enjoy ships of all types, my favorite was their submarine exhibit. From their advertising:

“Take the chance to go beneath the surface and discover the submarine HMS Nordkaparen and the stationary exhibition which tells stories on how life was on board the submarine.”

I practically ran through the surface ship tied up next to her since I knew my boss was anxious to get to dinner. That guy loved to eat. Somehow, I knew that this was going to be my only chance to see the boat, so I was pretty excited to spend as much time as I could.

Stepping back in time

Like many submarine exhibits, they had cut a wide enough hole in the hull to facilitate steps. Once I got inside, some familiar sensory items returned from my early days on submarines. The first thing was the smell. Nearly every submarine I have ever been on has a very particular smell that never seems to go away. The most predominant smell is the diesel fuel smell. Considering that the earliest submarines had gasoline engines for surface propulsion, I suppose it could be worse.  But the hydrocarbons infuse themselves into any porous material including the lagging and anything that has cloth. It never really goes away.

Added to the diesel smell are the ghosts of every meal ever prepared on board. From fine breads to stews and pungent sauerkraut, the smells intermingle together to create a blanket of aromas that is unique to submarines.

HSwMS Nordkaparen (Nor), was the fifth boat of the Draken-class submarine of the Swedish Navy.

HSwMS Nordkaparen was launched on 8 March 1961 by Saab Kockums, Malmö and commissioned on 4 April 1962.

On 18 September 1980, Nordkaparen was extremely close to colliding with a foreign submarine between Utö and Huvudskär. During a speed test, Nordkaparen operated together with one of the navy’s helicopters for anti-submarine warfare. This had its hydrophone immersed in the water. Just as the submarine was about to begin testing, Nordkaparen was called by the helicopter, which wondered if there were two submarines that would perform speed tests. The submarine replied that it was alone and stepped to the surface for safety reasons. Just as Nordkaparen broke the water surface, a submarine passed under the keel of the Swedish submarine by a margin of a few decimetres. The incident was followed by a two-week submarine hunt.

She was decommissioned in 1988 and became a museum ship in Maritiman, Gothenburg. The rest of her class were broken up for scrap.

Inside the boat

The interior was very small compared to some of my earlier boats. Since she was designed for a crew of about 36 men, most of the space would be allocated to her two diesel engines and her 12 torpedoes. All of the torpedoes were located in the bow torpedo room.

Much of the equipment looked familiar with a nest of valves located in key places.

But the most interesting thing for me was the engine order telegraph. Of course, it was in Swedish, and the words made me laugh out loud. Probably for a couple of off-color reasons. Here were the settings (I have added translations. Forgive me if they are not completely accurate since I was using AI to find them).

Framat = Going forward

Lagsta = Lowest

Sakta = Slowly

Halv Fart – Half Speed

Full Fart = Full speed ahead

Hogsta Fart = Maximum Speed

Swedish submarines have always had a reputation for being silent. And being a submarine, they are always considered deadly.

Silent but deadly always had another connotation on the submarines I rode on. In close quarters late at night in the control room of a submarine, the lights would often be at least dimmed if not rigged for red. At periscope depth, the lights would be darkened completely with the exception of key indicators and the ballast control panel.

In the stillness of the watch, every great once in a while, someone who had eaten too many fruitful beans, might feel the need to release some of the internal pressure that was building up inside of them. More often than not, it would be a great blast of noise followed by the stench of a thousand out houses. Some crew members were better at it than others and had quite the reputation. (You know who you are… no need to name shame these many decades later).

However, some crew members, in keeping with submarine traditions, would just use the silent but deadly method of delivery. With no warning, the entire watch section would be groaning in misery as they became enveloped by the blanketing odors. Since the control team could not leave their stations, all you could do was pray for the ventilation system to do its magic and carry the offensive wave to the charcoal filters buried in the fan room. Since it was mostly dark at that point, it would be difficult to see the smug grin on the offender’s face. But somehow, we always figured out who it was.

It’s been close to twenty years since I was in Gothenburg, and I miss the travel I used to do too much of. But like most people, I have a different life now. I also find myself operating at Framat Lagsta these days. I still stay engaged with a number of my organizations but writing seems to be more of an issue. I have to catch myself once in a while and stop writing a story mid-sentence when I realize that I have written about something before. With over 1200 stories on the blog, that just happens. I’m pretty sure my days of being able to hit maximum speed are long past. Unless I adjust my standards and just admit that maximum speed is whatever speed I can manage these days.

In any event, I thank you if you have read this far. With the summer heat of Charleston SC closing in, maybe I will get a chance to stay inside and write some more this summer. We shall see.

Mister Mac