Bengt Lundvall

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

Early life Lundvall was born on 30 October 1915 in Björkäng parish, Töreboda Municipality, Sweden, the son of the clerk Gottfrid Lundvall and his wife Elna (née Andersson). He passed studentexamen in Skövde in 1934.

Career

Military career Lundvall 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 (fänrik), after which he was promoted to sub-lieutenant (löjtnant) 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. He was captain and division commander of submarines and was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1954 and to commander 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 a naval contributor to the Svenska Dagbladet from 1957 to 1964.

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 Nikolai 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.

In December 1975, his appointment was extended for two years from 1 October 1976. Lundvall retired in 1978 and was promoted to full admiral upon retirement. 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 after his retirement improved the so-called Kanalvillan (the Canal Villa) in Forsvik, which became his home. 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.

Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences' honorary shield (1980)

Foreign

Honours Member of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences (1954; honorary member in 1970) President of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (1973–1975)