Göteborg class was a Swedish World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

 class. Built 1936-1941 the class was designed as escort and neutral guard destroyers. In total six ships were constructed, , , , , and . After World War II the destroyers, later rebuilt as frigates, continued to serve 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...

. The last ship was decommissioned in 1968.

History

In 1933 the Swedish government granted the construction of two new destroyers. The destroyers were given names after Swedish coast towns and was because of this called Stadsjagare (City destroyers). The first ship was delivered in 1936 and the second in 1937. In 1936 two additional destroyers were ordered and after the war broke out a third pair was ordered as well. In 1958-1963 three of the destroyers were rebuilt as frigates that included a change of armament. The first ship to be decommissioned was Göteborg in 1958. In the decade that followed all ships were decommissioned with the last in 1968.

The famous Swedish marine engineer Curt Borgenstam called the Göteborg class the most beautiful and well working destroyer class to have served in the Swedish navy.