When Sweden ALMOST Went to War With Russia
In 1981 the Russian submarine U-137 went aground close to the town of Karlskrona in Sweden, and that was the start of a diplomatic incident that almost led to armed conflict between Sweden and Russia. This incident was later given the name Whiskey on the Rocks.
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In this video I explore the town of Karlskrona and I also dive deeper into the U-137 incident. There were many breaches of Swedish territory by the Soviet Union during the 1980s, but this was one of the most well-known cases - and one that became international news at the time.
The submarine that went aground was the start of it all, but it escalated with Russian war ships and other vessels closing in on Swedish waters, with orders to retrieve the submarine by force. Meanwhile, Swedish scientists detected that the submarine was carrying uranium - and that it was in fact loaded with nuclear weapons.
Eventually both sides stood down from further conflict, and the submarine was released to the Soviet fleet - but it was several days of nerve wracking diplomatic games until that conclusion was reached. And this video gives you a short glimpse into the whole event that became known as Whiskey on the Rocks.
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The day when every jet engine was spooled up. When every warship was slipped from anchor. When every artillery emplacement was filled and every armed servicemen was brought to bear. When the government hovered with one hand over the total mobilization button and every cop got issued handgrenades. When Sweden told the Soviet Union "move one inch onto our territory and you will be destroyed" The culmination of the cold war in a sense and solid proof that the primary thing that kept the cold war from getting hot was Swedish steel all along.
I remember this, my father was a Swedish diplomat and military at that time. We got so many "polish carpet salesmen and "lost hitchhikers from germany" knocking at the door and around the doors to our neighbours. This usually happened every 3-4 months, but at the time of the Whiskey on the Rocks incident, the number of eatern european tourists and salesmen in the neighbourhood skyrocketed.
Im born 1981 and grew up in Karlskrona my father at that time was a airbase engineer/groundcrew on Ronneby F17 airbase. He told me when i was old enough that the whole homeguard in the region approx 200 000 soldiers was mobilized in our area and his groundcrew unit was ordered to prepare the hidden runways across the neighbouring provinces. It all happened like that at the flip of a switch. Thankfully it never got hot war but seeing what happened everyone was convinced the war was coming especially when they heard Sovjet rescue force was on their way. Karlskrona has also a huge city underground, a base ready to whitstand hell.
Nice memories. I have been there in 2022. Karlskrona is beautiful place. Bought a tre kronor pin at the museum shop, which I carry around, at my backpack, every day. I am in love with Sweden and still booked a trip to Stockholm, in August of this year. 😊
Shortly after this incident, in the taxfree shops on ferries, packages looking like a video box were sold. The most interesting contained a bottle of whiskey and it was named U137 - Whisky On The Rocks. There was also a brandy that was aged “12 Years Behind The Bars”.
My grandpa was on that boat as coastguard, great story!
It´s kinda scary to realise how close we came to world war 3 that time. The order from the swedish prime minister to the armed forces was " - Håll gränsen / hold the border". That means that if the soviet fleet would have passed the maritime border line the coastal batteries, submarines, naval surface vessels and attack aircraft would all have engaged the soviet fleet, probably sinking most of them. That would have made the soviet union go full retard and "retaliate", which would have spun the world straight into world war 3.
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I've visited Marinmuseum at Karlskrona. It's a good place to visit. Also, Karlskrona is a very nice town.
Very interesting video! Takk, Miro ! 😊
This was very intresting video and made me wanted to visit Karlskrona🇸🇪❤️
Hope we get to see the tv show here in Australia- very interesting vlog, Miro. Hope you enjoyed the Joshua Tree and are having an amazing trip in the US.
We will be visiting Karlskrona later this year - Thanks for this video. We will definitely go to the Marine Museum.
Karlskrona looks like a lovely place! (And what a cool museum.) I had no idea about this bit of history. I eventually became friends with people from countries under Soviet control and knew -- just by proximity -- there were tensions in some Nordic countries. But this was all new to me. (And fascinating!)
Wow. Great editing, use of music and fantastic storytelling. Tusentack! Now come to Gotland and get a bunch more content. There are stories everywhere. We literally have skeletons under our house.
I'm going to visit the Marinemuseum this summer. It certainly looks highly interesting.
How on earth can someone talk about this incident and leave out when Fälldin got the call on what to do if the Russians crossed the border and he just replied "Håll gränsen!" (Hold the border!) where the coastal artillery change to its signature "jump frequency" (Hopp frekvens) that was only to be used at wartime, what the russians did not know was that our coastal artillery was not combat ready at that time but the bluff worked.
Wow tense times indeed, I don’t agree about the salvage fees since they did breach Swedish waters but you have to abide by the court decision 😒. Lucky Putin was not in charged then who knows how it may have turned out. I do remember hearing about this incident but did not retain many facts so it was an amazing video into the past. Stay safe till next time.
Interesting that they're still using the same excuses today with Ukraina etc.
During the cold war we in Sweden were neutral but we had secret agrement to the americans