Bengt Lundvall


Bengt Gustaf Gottfrid Lundvall was a senior Swedish Navy officer. He was Chief of the Navy from 1970 to 1978.

Career

Lundvall was born on 30 October 1915 in Björkäng parish, Töreboda Municipality, Sweden,, the son of the clerk Gottfrid Lundvall and his wife Elna. He passed studentexamen in Skövde in 1934 and graduated from the Royal Swedish Naval Academy in 1938. He was commissioned as a naval officer in the Swedish Navy the same year with the rank of acting sub-lieutenant, after which he was promoted to sub-lieutenant in 1940. He trained for submarine duty and did submarine service during the World War II's neutrality guard and a few years after the end of the war. He also specialized in connection, radio, radar and combat control. He completed the Royal Swedish Naval Staff College general course and staff course from 1944 to 1946. He also passed the signal officer course at the Submarine School. Lundvall was promoted to lieutenant in 1946 and attended the Royal Navy's signal and radar school from 1946 to 1947. He was captain and division commander of submarines and was promoted to commander of the 2nd rank in 1954 and of the first rank in 1957. Lundwall was captain of the minelayer in 1957 and 1958 during which the ship transported expeditions to the Swedish station Kinnvika on Svalbard during the International Polar Year. Lundvall was military expert in the Airport Committee in 1956 and the 1960 and the 1962 Defense Committee. He was also an naval contributor to the Svenska Dagbladet from 1957 to 1964.
He also served in the staff of the Chief of the Coastal Fleet and was adjutant of the commanding officer of the Submarine Department and was head of the Communications and Planning Department in the Naval Staff as well as head of the Planning Department in the Defence Staff. Lundvall was promoted to captain in 1961 and was appointed head in the Operations Management in the Defence Staff. He was Vice Chief of the Defence Staff from 1964 to 1966 when he was promoted to rear admiral. Lundvall was then chief of the staff of the Eastern Military District from 1966 to 1970 and was promoted to vice admiral in 1970. Lundvall was Chief of the Navy from 1970 to 1978 and was promoted to full admiral upon retirement.
In June 1975 Lundvall invited, after consultation with the Chief of Naval Operations in the United States, admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, and the First Sea Lord in the United Kingdom, admiral Sir Edward Ashmore, to the North Atlantic Seapower Symposium in Saltsjöbaden. Lundvall's intention was, among other things, that the naval chiefs of the East and West would meet each other for the first time since the end of World War II to discuss marine issues and thus increase stability in the areas around the North Atlantic. During a week, naval chiefs from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Iceland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Norway, Denmark, Finland, West Germany, East Germany and Poland participated. From the Soviet Union, Admiral Amelko, who was the naval commander Leningrad, was a substitute for admiral Gorshkov who was unable to attend. The meeting became a veritable success and was repeated in the summer of 1978 in Finland.

Post retirement

He was inspector of the association UppSjö from 1970 to 1978 and was board member of Saléninvest AB from 1976 to 1982 and chairman of the foundation Ymer 80 from 1979 to 2000. Lundvall had a strong feeling for his home district and was a board member of AB Göta kanalbolag from 1978 to 1984 and after his retirement improved the so-called Kanalvillan in Forsvik, which became his home.
After his active military career, Lundvall took the initiative for a polar expedition in memory of Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld's expedition through the Northeast Passage with the ship 1878-1880. Lundvall served as chief operating officer for the expedition that was carried out by the icebreaker Ymer during the summer of 1980. He also took the initiative to form the foundation Ymer-80 in order to support young researchers and was its chairman for 10 years.
In 1998, it was revealed in the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet that during the Cold War, Lundvall as Chief of the Navy would leave Sweden for the United Kingdom to establish a Swedish war time headquarters in case of a Soviet invasion of Sweden. From there, he would, in close cooperation with the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces back in Sweden, coordinate the warfare with support from the west, mainly from the NATO countries United Kingdom and the United States. If the defense management in Sweden failed, he would take over the highest Swedish command and lead the battle on Swedish soil with regular units. In a situation where the Swedish defence failed and Sweden became occupied, it was the Chief of the Navy's task to start the resistance. The Chief of the Navy's mission was so secret that it was never written down on paper, nor did Lundvall ever mentioned this to his wife or his son who also was an naval officer. This mission was confirmed by both Lundvall himself and the former Supreme Commander Stig Synnergren.

Personal life

In 1941 he married Karin Rydnäs, the daughter of the merchant Johannes Rydnäs and Ida Spjuth. He was the father of Thomas, Ylva and Boel.
Lundvall died on 30 November 2010 in Undenäs parish, Karlsborg Municipality.

Dates of rank