Cay Holmberg

Senior Captain Cay Hake Holmberg (27 March 1933 – 16 June 2025) was a Swedish Navy officer. Holmberg graduated from the Royal Swedish Naval Academy in 1957 and began his naval career as a sub-lieutenant. Over the years, he underwent various training programs and held positions of increasing responsibility, including commanding destroyers and serving as a strategy teacher. He represented Sweden at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea for an extended period. In 1987, he became head of the Navy Weapons Inspection and was promoted to senior captain. Later, he served as head of the Swedish contingent at the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission in Korea, where he held the acting rank of rear admiral until December 1991. Overall, his career spanned several decades and included significant international service.

Early life Holmberg was born on 27 March 1933 in in Gothenburg, Sweden, the son of managing director Cay Holmberg and his wife Lilly (née Bengtsson). He passed studentexamen in 1954.

Career Holmberg graduated from the Royal Swedish Naval Academy in 1957 and was commissioned as a naval officer and appointed acting sub-lieutenant in the Swedish Navy the same year. Holmberg completed anti-submarine warfare training in the United Kingdom in 1962, Holmberg underwent the Swedish Armed Forces Staff College's staff course between 1966 and 1968 and the Swedish National Defence College's management course.

Holmberg commanded the destroyers and between 1971 and 1972 He served as a strategy teacher at the Swedish Armed Forces Staff College from 1974 to 1977. and in 1981 chief of staff at the East Coast Naval Base. In 1982 he became chief of staff of the Berga Naval Training Schools. Holmberg was appointed head of the Berga Naval Training Schools from 1 October 1983. Four years later, on 1 October 1987, Captain Holmberg became head of the Navy Weapons Inspection (Flottans vapenslagsinspektion) in the Naval Staff. He was simultaneously promoted to senior captain.

In February 1990, Holmberg was appointed head of the Swedish contingent at the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission in Korea. Swedish officers in international missions can be given a higher rank, whereby Holmberg had the acting rank of rear admiral during his service in Korea until 1 December 1991. The service was extended and in total he served in Korea from May 1990 to February 1992.

In July 1981, he was elected chairman of the Marinlitteraturföreningen ("Marine Literature Association").

In 1987, on the initiative of, among others, Holmberg the naval association local association was formed in Haninge. The formation was a "spin-off" from the main association in Stockholm.

Holmberg was chairman of the Association of Men of 1933 (Föreningen 1933 års män), an association for men born in 1933.

Personal life Holmberg got engaged to Ulla Molin in Stockholm on 3 January 1958. They had six children, of which one child died at under one year of age. Their daughter Filippa Holmberg was married to Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt from 1992 to 2013.

In 1989, he married Louise Hadorph (born 1943), the daughter of Carl Hadorph and Lilli (née Jacobsson). The funeral service was held on 12 September 2025 in Gustaf Adolf Church in Stockholm.

Dates of rank 1957 – Acting sub-lieutenant 19?? – Sub-lieutenant 1965 – Lieutenant 1970 – Lieutenant commander 1972 – Commander 1979 – 1984 – Captain 1 October 1987 – Senior captain 1990 – Rear admiral (acting rank)

Awards and decorations

Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (1982)