HMS Carlskrona is the largest vessel in the Swedish Navy

Swedish Navy

The Royal Swedish Navy is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet – as well as marine units, the so-called Amphibious Corps .In Swedish, vessels of the Swedish Navy are given the prefix "HMS," short for Hans/Hennes...

 with 105,7 meters (346,8 ft). Second largest is Belos

HMS Belos (A214)

HMS Belos is a submarine rescue ship in the Swedish Navy's 1st Submarine flotilla. She carries Sjöugglan, Argus, Mantis and URF. She is also capable of carrying the British LR5.- History :...

, the submarine rescue vessel, with 104,9 meters (344,2 ft). She was originally designed as a minelayer

Minelayer

Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...

 also used for exercise expeditions. She replaced in both roles.

History

During the cold war, large minelayers like Carlskrona were very important in the Swedish defense strategy, causing the ship to be without a role after the restructuring of the Swedish armed forces in the early 2000's.

Carlskrona was refitted in 2002. The refit left the ship fit for active service until at least 2018-20. Shortly thereafter she was decommissioned. In 2009-2010 she was modified for the Ocean Patrol Vessel (OPV) role and redesignated from M to P (P04). Carlskrona took part in the EUNAVFOR operation in the Gulf of Aden (Somalia) in 2010. She left the naval base at Karlskrona, Sweden on the March 13 2010, and commenced her mission as HQ ship for the EU operation on April 15.