Erik Anderberg

Vice Admiral Erik Magnus Anderberg (1 January 1892 – 28 February 1990) was a Swedish Navy officer. He is famous for being the grand architect of the notion of a unified Swedish signal intelligence authority. Anderberg served as captain of the from 1940 to 1941, commander of the Royal Swedish Naval Staff College from 1943 to 1945, Chief of the Naval Staff from 1945 to 1950 and as commanding officer of the East Coast Naval District from 1951 to 1957.

Early life Anderberg was born on 1 January 1892 in the Rörstrand neighborhood of Stockholm, Sweden, the son of accountant Anders Anderberg and his wife Anna Eidem-Andersson. He was admitted at age 14 at the six-year long course at the Royal Swedish Naval Academy where he became underlöjtnant in 1912. In the same class, throughout the entire education period was Jacob Wallenberg, later the CEO of Stockholms Enskilda Bank. Between these two a constant struggle of becoming first occurred, and a friendship that lasted a lifetime.

During the interwar period, Anderberg's time was filled with teachership at various intercommunication courses, serving as a teacher of intercommunication at the Royal Swedish Naval Staff College from 1923 to 1924 and as a naval assistant at the Board of Telecommunications Services (Telegrafstyrelsen). In the spring of 1931, regular signal collection of military radio traffic was started on the coastal defence ship . It comprised Russian, German, and English signals. This was done at the initiative of then captain Anderberg. In 1937 he was appointed head of the Military Signals Department in the new Defence Staff. Before this, under the aegis of the old General Staff, Anderberg had organized courses in cryptology for specially selected candidates from 1930. Anderberg died on 28 February 1990 and was buried at Galärvarvskyrkogården in Stockholm.

Dates of rank 1912 – Acting sub-lieutenant 19?? – Sub-lieutenant 1921 – Lieutenant 1937 – Commander 1942 – Captain 1945 – Rear admiral 1957 – Vice admiral

Awards and decorations

Swedish

Foreign

Honours Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (1941) Honorary member of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences (1945)