Swedish naval strength according to the Dutch newspaper Limburger Koerier dated 19 April 1940

In a news item was the neutrality of Sweden discussed and wondered what this country would and could do when it was involved in what was later known as the Second World War. As a result of the decreased budget for 1925 the personnel strength of the navy was brought back to 3,400 men and the military service in general around 5 months. Defence expenses in the national budget decreased from 42,5% tot 26,8% in 1925. It was considered to be impossible to defend the complete coastline so a choice was made for just some strategically important locations. In 1930 was regarded the world situation decided to reorganize the forces but not practiced mainly due to political disagreement. Not earlier as in 1937 was the reorganisation realized and a defence staff appointed with general Thörnell as chef. The backbone of the Swedish navy were 10 coast defence ships of which the largest were the Gustaf V, Drottning Victoria and the Sverige each of around 7,000 tons and build in 1915-1918, the newest unit was the Gottland of 4,775 tons  dating from 1933. Further more were 14 destroyers, 31 torpedo boats, 14 submarines and a large number of smaller vessels. An important roll in the Swedish defence was played by the coast defence depending on the navy with as centres the works at Vaxholm near Stockholm, Karlskrona, Alvsborg and Hemsö.

The Sverige

The photo of the Gotland was published in the Dutch magazine Gelderland in woord en beeld dated 21 February 1936 when she visited Amsterdam.