US Navy To Continue Hunt For Swedish Sub

**Ryan Ruck** · April 28th, 2006, 01:30

For almost a year the US Navy has been hunting a Swedish submarine, the HMS Gotland, off America's west coast.

The hunt is, of course, a one year training programme - but the Americans now want to extend the contract with the Swedish Navy.

Time after time, as part of the Americans' training in tracking down smaller vessels, the Swedish submarine and its crew have eluded their pursuers.

The programme started last summer but the US Navy has said that it would like to hire the Swedish submarine and crew for another year, reported the newspaper Blekinge LÃ¤ns Tidning.

That is good news as far as the Swedish submarine flotilla is concerned, and it has already requested the government's permission to continue.

"Both the Americans and ourselves are interested in a continuation," said Jens Plambeck, chief of staff at the First Submarine Flotilla in Karlskrona.

The key to the HMS Gotland's success is the Stirling engines which allow the submarine to remain underwater for a unusually long time.

**Brian Baldwin** · April 28th, 2006, 13:24

Don't the swedes also have a small fuel cell driven sub that is super silent? I wonder if that is something the USN is interested in chasing?

**Ryan Ruck** · April 28th, 2006, 14:57

Yes, the Gotland is one of those subs.

It uses a type of air-independent propulsion called a Stirling engine.

These AIP-diesel subs present a big challenge for our Navy to hunt down and destroy as they are super-quiet. In fact, they are even more quiet than our nuclear powered boats since those require cooling pumps to constantly run while these AIP-diesel subs are able to completely shut down and also remain submerged for as long as 2 weeks.

Guess what type of submarines the Chinese are buying/building in large numbers along with the more conventional submarines?