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This summer, HMS Bremön is undergoing scheduled maintenance at the shipyard and is therefore not open to visitors. We thank you for your understanding and look forward to welcoming you back next summer, when the ship will once again be open to visitors. |
Named after a lighthouse station Brämön in Medelpad, she was built at Eriksberg Mechanical Workshop in Gothenburg and launched in June 1940. Nowadays, Bremön leads a quiet life as a museum ship at the Naval Museum in Karlskrona, but she has had an eventful and at times very perilous past.
Bremön is the only preserved warship of the 14 built in the so-called Arholma class between 1937 and 1940, all named after lighthouse stations along Sweden’s coast. She and her sister ships were minesweepers, tasked both with clearing and laying mines during the height of World War II, but also with escort duties and preventing foreign ships from entering Swedish waters.
Bremön is powered by two steam turbines, each with 1,600 horsepower. She measures 56.7 meters in length and 7.6 meters in width. The vessel was armed with two guns and, during her active navy service, carried 40 naval mines and 50 depth charges on board.
Life on Bremön was strictly divided. The regular crew lived in cramped quarters and shared a single cook for forty men. In contrast, the three officers enjoyed relatively spacious accommodations, with their own cook and steward.
In Service While Europe Burned
The war years of 1939–1945 posed great challenges for Sweden’s military, particularly its navy. Despite Sweden’s neutrality, Swedish waters were filled with mines, and Bremön and her crew lived a hectic and hazardous life. In November 1941, while disarming mines south of Öland, one mine exploded. The auxiliary patrol boat 282 Libanon, which was involved in the operation, was blown up and ten men were killed.
In 1943, Bremön helped escort several Danish navy ships that had managed to flee to Swedish waters. The tense journey was made under the cover of night, with all lights turned off, and Bremön’s captain had orders to open fire if necessary.
One of Bremön’s key tasks during the war was protecting merchant ships. The threat of airstrikes, artillery fire, torpedoes, and mines was constant, even deep within Swedish waters. Approximately 1,500 Swedish merchant seamen died in service during World War II, a number that would have been much higher without the presence of the Swedish Navy: during the war, around 4,000 mines were neutralized along the Swedish coast, and about 16,000 merchant vessels were escorted safely.
Escaped the Scrap Heap
Peace came in 1945, but Bremön’s life remained far from risk-free. For several years after the war, she continued sweeping mines in Swedish waters. In the 1960s, she became the mother ship for Sweden’s first mini-submarine, Spiggen. From 1966, and for 14 years, Bremön served as a training ship at the Karlskrona Naval Schools.
Bremön is the only Arholma-class minesweeper that escaped scrapping. In 1987, she was donated to the Naval Museum and is open to visitors during the summer months. With her interior, armament, and much of her wartime equipment still intact from the 1940s, Bremön is one of the museum’s most popular ships.