On Thursday we took a guided tour out to the fort at the outside entrance to the harbour. Karlskrona has been a major naval base since the 17^th Century because it remains ice free in winter and had a lot of defences to protect it from seaward attack. Apparently Nelson said it could never be taken from the sea.

 The tripper boat we went on to the fort

The fort included its own small, defendable harbour

The guide spent longer talking to the Swedish speakers than to us!

Inside the fort were a jumbled assortment of listening, range finding and other devices

The fort on the other side of the entrance was built to ensure that there was sufficient range for the cannon to cover the whole distance (500m!)

We could see Utklippan  (where we stopped last year) from the top of the fort

The lovely gardens contained many trees brought back by sailors from their trips to other parts of the world. The guide was very knowledgeable

These traditional boats, which belonged to the museum, could be hired by the day

When we got back from the trip to the fort we went to the excellent naval museum, where we had an all you can eat lunch of typical Swedish food (herrings featured), and then went round the (free) museum exhibits. Unfortunately we left the submarine hall until last and were too late to go inside the cold war sub as there was a group being guided through and it had closed to the general public.

This is the mast crane shed together with the model in the museum showing it’s inner workings, power coming from huge capstans on two floors.

The original models in the museum were used to test designs for the shipbuilders

The cannon deck display was accompanied by sound effects. There was a whole room devoted to figureheads

This claimed to be an 18C model of a wooden, paddle driven submarine. We were not sure if it was ever produced as an actual ship.

These traditional boats, built in the mid-1800s are raced weekly in the summer.

When we got back to the boat we were delighted to see Prospero moored next to us. Nicholas had organised the previous year’s CA Baltic rally we had enjoyed so much, and we invited him on board for tea. He was able to show us on the map where the wooden, naval church, which we had wanted to visit, was, so after tea and inviting Nicholas to eat with us, we dashed off to see the church. Unfortunately we couldn’t go inside and the outside wasn’t that impressive. It is still used by the Navy and there are concerts held there. It is surrounded by no go areas containing the naval base.

The wooden church

Apparently this guy froze to death on the church steps and is commemorated in this model. Unfortunately his scroll was in Swedish

The regional governor’s house

Submarine coming back to harbour in the evening – evidence of an active naval base

Back at the boat and just heading over to Prospero for drinks, Pat and Pam in Phun came into the marina. We helped them tie up and then all five of us repaired to Nicholas’s boat for pre-dinner drinks. These went on for rather longer than intended, meaning that Nicholas came back to us for a bread and cheese supper rather than the cooked meal we had intended, but no less sociable. Nicholas is organising this year’s Baltic rally as well and was sailing the intended route to check that it will work for the 18 boats who have signed up. We were quite late to bed but didn’t plan to  leave at the crack of dawn the next day, so  thought the opportunity to socialise with old friends too good to miss.