Evening star., 1943-05-08
BY BLAIR BOLLES,

STOCKHOLM, May 7 (By Wire
less) Swedish prospects of defend
ing this country from an invader in
case of need frightened today with
the disclosure that Germany has
agreed to the reopening of Gothen-
burg traffic. The Swedish Navy has
been restricted to limited maneuvers
by the shortness of oil supplies.
Swedish oil is imported from Amer
lea and none has come in since the
Gothenburg traffic was closed in
January.
Admiral Yngve Ekstrand, COM
mander of the Baltic fleet, yester-
day entertained six American news
papermen and the American naval
attache here, Comdr Walter l.. Hey
berg, at luncheon aboard his flag
ship Sverige. 1t marked the first
time foreign reporters have been al
lowed aboard a Swedish fighting
ship since the war broke out and
the first time Comdr. Heyberg has
been rendered this privilege in his
service in Stockholm, where he has
been stationed year and half
Comdr. Heyberg is a resident of
Washington. He lives at 1926 Wyo-
ming avenue.
The Baltic feet lay at anchor
after morning target practice In the
protected waters around the Sker-
ries, few miles south of Stockholm
when we visited the Sveridge The
f1agship's flax guns were manned
since the vessel has been constantly
on a general alert since the begin
ming of the war The visit of the
Americans was regarded as a sig
nif1cant development in Sweden's
swing toward the Allies.
Technical Skill Stressed.
Motor torpedo boats, skimming the
water at 40 knots, took the party
from shore to the ship over 20
mile course through waters dotted
by Maine-like craggy islands, which
protect Swedens coast line. The
Swedes have 16 motor torpedo boats.
EACH equipped with two torpedo
tubes. Sweden's navy is weak in
number of its ships, but the naval
commanders hope high technical
ability and carefully developed skill
in fire control would balance this
weakness in some degree.
The most vulnerable point in the
Swedish armor is in air protection.
Her planes are antiQuated
The main naval st1I~oth is con-
centrated in the Baltic hee., III
contributes to Stockholms defense.
Some warships are on the west coast
in the Gothenburg region. The
harsh shore line of Southern
Sweden is considered an effective
barrier to attack from the sea. The
defense of the south is entrusted
to the army.
Mount 11-Inch Guns.
The Sverige, built in 1917, is called
a coastal defense ship. 1t displaces
1875 tons. At anchor nearby were
the coastal defense ships, Drottning.
Victoria and Gustaf the first 7.l2O
tons and the second 1880. They
mount 11-inch guns.
The navy also includes four
smaller coastal defense ships, one
plane catapulting cruiser, an ar
mored cruiser now used for a train
ing ship. 20 destroyers, Is subma-
rines and a number of lesser ships.
Six destroyers are under construc-
tion with delivery of four expected
in the autumn and two cruisers are
| being built. They won't be ready
for two or three years
Admiral Ekstrand arranged a
visit for the newspapermen and
Comdr. Heyberg to the 1.O40-ton de-
stroyer Norrkoping. Three Destroy
ers were lost last year in an acci-
| dental explosion, but the Swedes
managed to salvage one and to At
together the bow half of one hull
and the stern of another.
Large Army Developed.
Sweden has developed conscript
army of large size for total popu-
lation of 100000 Although Swe-
| den has been in no wars since Ma
poleon's day, practically every unit
has in it a veteran who fought as
volunteer in Finland in the win
ter war of l939-4O or in Spain for
the Loyalist army. The army's en-
phasis is on forest fighting, in which
tactics were shown the visiting
American newspapermen a few days
ago. In the birch and pine forests
that cover most of Sweden the army
Is confident that it could trap and
restrain any invader. The army had
adopted American Indian tactics.
The Swedish budget provides cur
rently 776,587,700 crowns for de-
fense, compared with 234, 1882, 700
three years ago.
However, it has been unable to
build up its air force. Swedish fac
tories cannot make satisfactory
plane engines, but Sweden is the
home of the Bofors anti-aircraft