Åke Lindemalm

Åke Fredrik Lindemalm (26 February 1910 – 30 April 2004) was a Swedish Navy admiral. He was acting Chief of the Naval Staff from 1960 to 1961 and Chief of the Navy from 1961 to 1970.

Career
Lindemalm was born in Lima, Sweden, the son of district medical officer Oskar Lindemalm and his wife Augusta (née Florén). He passed studentexamen at Högre Allmänna Läroverket in Uppsala in 1928 and became an acting sub-lieutenant (fänrik) in the Swedish Navy in 1931. He was a training officer for the Cabin Boy Corps (Skeppsgossekåren) on the full-rigged ship af Chapman from 1936 to 1937. Lindemalm became an officer cadet in 1938 and spent two and a half years ashore at the Royal Swedish Naval Academy and on a long trip to South America with the seaplane cruiser HSWMS Gotland (1933) as well as aboard different cadet ships to form the cadets to prospective officers in the course of 1941. During World War II he served as captain of various submarines. Lindemalm was a teacher at the Royal Swedish Naval Staff College from 1948 to 1951. Lindemalm was promoted to commander of the 2nd rank in 1949 and was commanding officer of the 1st Submarine Flotilla in 1951.

Lindemalm then served at the Operations Department of the Naval Staff from 1952 to 1955 and was promoted to commander of the 1st rank in 1953. He was captain of the cruiser HSWMS Tre Kronor from 1955 to 1956 and was promoted to captain the following year. Lindemalm was flag captain from 1957 to 1959 and inspector of the submarine and helicopter service from 1959 to 1961 when he was promoted to rear admiral. He was acting Chief of the Naval Staff from 1960 to 1961 when he was promoted to vice admiral. He was appointed Chief of the Navy in 1961 and for economic reasons had to proceed with the reduction of the number of ships and coastal artillery pieces, which his predecessor had begun. However, submarines which was ordered was of high technical quality, the Swedish coastal artillery transition to medium and light pieces was started and the helicopter's increased importance for naval warfare was continued by Lindemalm. He was promoted to admiral upon his retirement in 1970.

Other work
Lindemalm was a special honorary member of the Lund Academic Officer Society. He became a member of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences in 1949 (honorary member in 1961 ) and of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences in 1957. Lindemalm was board member of the Svenska AB Philips from 1970 to 1982 and chairman of the same from 1974 to 1982. He was board member of the Svenska Philipsföretagen AB from 1977 to 1982 and of the British Scandinavian Aviation AB from 1972 to 1985.

Personal life
In 1934 Lindemalm married Karin Denning (1909–1992), the daughter of Viktor Karlsson and Matilda (née Hagelin). He was the father of Per (born 1939), Gunnar (born 1942) and Mats (born 1944). Lindemalm died on 30 April 2004 and was buried at Galärvarvskyrkogården in Stockholm.

Dates of rank

 * 1931 – Acting sub-lieutenant (fänrik)
 * 1949 – Commander of the 2nd rank (Kommendörkapten 2:a graden)
 * 1953 – Commander of the 1st rank (Kommendörkapten 1:a graden)
 * 1957 – Captain (Kommendör)
 * 1961 – Rear admiral
 * 1961 – Vice admiral
 * 1970 – Admiral

Awards and decorations

 * Commander First Class of the Order of the Sword
 * Knight of the Order of Vasa