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fiendishrabbit t1_itpnjg3 wrote

Reply to comment by rbajter in Archaeologists have found the 17th-century warship Applet: Maritime experts believe wreck is sister-ship of Vasa, which sank off Stockholm in 1629 by MeatballDom

Depends on the era, building material and size.

A well-built 74-gun ship-of-the-line built out of well-dried oak were on average in service for maybe 30-50 years. British second rates (90-gun ships) tended to be in service for 60-80 years unless they were wrecked.

On the opposite end we have ships like the Endymion class frigates, which served for about a decade. But these ships were built out of fir instead of oak (because of a shortage of oak and the need to complete them quickly)

Swedish ships tended to live a hard life though, and a very large amount of them were sunk or captured. The longest serving ship was Äran (Glory), with it's 90 years in Swedish service before sinking (due to fire).

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EzKafka t1_itpqj4r wrote

We had such a long coast but yet we had a horrible trackrecord on the sea. The Danes beat us to it many times.

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fiendishrabbit t1_itpurev wrote

The swedish navy has always played second fiddle to the swedish army.

Also, while the "örlogsflottan" (open water navy) frequently performed poorly the archipelago fleet (consisting of galleys, gunsloops and the smaller archipelago frigates) mostly performed quite well (like Frisches Haff, Nöteborg and the second battle of Svensksund).

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EzKafka t1_itq5eqh wrote

Yeah, thats a big point to be honest. Sweden was mainly an inland sea. Danes had much more oceanic waters to handle. Also, the inclusion of British and Dutch navies screwing us both over to keep the balance was also a big help.

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