Rudberg was convinced that the navy should be accorded greater importance in the Swedish defense, and he argued for this in the military management. Meanwhile, Sweden was subjected to repeated underwater violations and Rudberg was forced to redirect the emergency preparedness system to meet the threats. The navy went from being a school navy to become a contingency navy and the coastal artillery began with a constant surveillance of sensitive areas. New equipment was also procured for the submarine protection. Rudberg could collectively leave a qualitatively strengthened navy when he retired in 1984. As the Chief of the Navy, Rudberg would in the event of a military attack on Sweden or in a military crisis immediately be flown to England where he would act as a kind of "reserve Supreme Commander" but also be a link between Sweden and the Allied forces. The Chief of the Army would be the Supreme Commander's deputy and Chief of the Air Force would be the commanding officer at the front. In a news article in "Svenska Dagbladet" in 1998, Rudberg explained that after Prime Minister Olof Palme's assassination in Stockholm on 28 February 1986, Rudberg, who until recently had been the Chief of the Navy, had called the Supreme Commander Lennart Ljung and announced that he was ready to travel to Washington, D.C., where Sweden's naval chief had his place in the event of a war.