The Swedish coffee crisis on the submarine: “Is there a seriousness”

In the middle of a fiery exercise, something that should not happen on board the Swedish submarine happened: The coffee ran out.

After the crew raised the alarm about the incident, the Swedes were rescued by the British patrol boat HMS Dasher.

– It may seem trivial with coffee and a bit humorous like that, but there is a seriousness behind it, says duty communications officer at the Swedish Armed Forces Mikael Ågren.Latest news clips from Expressen.

The naval exercise Baltops ended on Midsummer’s Eve. During the two weeks that the exercise has been going on, over 9,000 men and over 50 ships from 16 NATO countries have exercised under the leadership of the US Sixth Fleet.

Sweden participated with a submarine, whose crew found themselves in a crisis situation when the coffee on board ran out.

The Swedes alerted the exercise command about their situation – who, between two attack exercises, ordered the British patrol boat HMS Dasher to assist the coffee-thirsty Swedes.

“Coffee is important on a submarine”

Coffee and Italian cookies could then be delivered to the Swedes via a waterproof bag.

“Even if it was just about coffee this time, we have shown how allies can cooperate, communicate and quickly assist each other,” says HMS Dasher Captain Jack Mason in a comment to the Royal Navy.

The Armed Forces’ duty communicator Mikael Ågren says that the handover can certainly be perceived as humorous, but emphasizes that the ability itself is important.

– It could be spare parts, it could be weapons, it could be fuel, it could be food, he says.

– It’s quite advanced, because these are quite sensitive systems. A submarine shouldn’t collide with a ship, so it’s quite dependent on the weather and wind, and then you need to be good at maneuvering these ships in a situation like this.

How did the submarine crew react to the help?

– A Swedish submarine without coffee? I’ll take a guess and say they were quite happy. Coffee is important on a submarine, says Mikael Ågren of the Swedish Armed Forces.