Bengt Lundvall

Bengt Gustaf Gottfrid Lundvall (30 October 1915 – 30 November 2010) was a Swedish Navy admiral. He was Chief of the Navy from 1970 to 1978.

Career
Lundvall was born in Töreboda, Sweden, the son of the clerk Gottfrid Lundvall and his wife Elna (née Andersson). He passed studentexamen in Skövde in 1934 and became an acting sub-lieutenant (fänrik) in the Swedish Navy in 1938. Lundvall was promoted to sub-lieutenant (löjtnant) in 1940 and 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 (kapten) 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 HSWMS Älvsnabben (M01) in 1957 and 1958 during which the ship transported expeditions to the Swedish station Kinnvika on Svalbard during the International Polar Year.

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 at the Naval Staff as well as head of the Planning Department at the Defence Staff. Lundvall was promoted to captain in 1961 and was appointed head in the Operations Management at 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 commanding officer of the staff of Milo Ö 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 (admiral James L. Holloway III), United Kingdom (admiral Ashmore), 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
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 SS Vega (1872) 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.

Other work
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. Lundvall became a member of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences in 1954 (honorary member in 1970 ) and of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences in 1963. He was chairman of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences from 1970 to 1978 and president of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences from 1973 to 1975.

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. 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 (the Canal Villa) in Forsvik, which became his home.

Dates of rank

 * 1938 – Acting sub-lieutenant (fänrik)
 * 1940 – Sub-lieutenant (löjtnant)
 * 1946 – Lieutenant (Kapten)
 * 1954 – Commander of the 2nd rank (Kommendörkapten 2:a graden)
 * 1957 – Commander of the 1st rank (Kommendörkapten 1:a graden)
 * 1961 – Captain (Kommendör)
 * 1966 – Rear admiral
 * 1970 – Vice admiral
 * 1978 – Admiral

Personal life
In 1941 he married Karin Rydnäs (born 1920), the daughter of the merchant Johannes Rydnäs and Ida Spjuth. He was the father of Thomas (born 1943), Ylva (born 1945) and Boel (born 1949).

Awards and decorations

 * Knight of the Order of the Sword
 * Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences' honorary shield (1980)