The 202nd Coastal Ranger Company (, or , KJ) is an amphibious special operations capable ranger unit within the Swedish Amphibious Corps, which is the maritime land force arm of the Swedish Navy.
History
The embryo for the formation of the coastal rangers began with a discussion at the Coastal Artillery Club () on 4 December 1950. The introductory speech about commandos was made by Captain Bertil Stjernfelt. During the evening, three Swedish officers with war experience told the demands that should be placed on Swedish commandos. These three men were Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Murray who commanded the 2nd Ranger Company of the Swedish Volunteer Corps at Hanko in Finland in 1941, Gösta Benckert with war experience from both Finland and Norway, and the paratrooper Erik G:son Lewenhaupt, with experience of fighting in Normandy, among other places.
The next step was the training of four Swedish officers at the Royal Marines and the French amphibious school in North Africa. One of these was the aforementioned Captain Bertil Stjernfelt, who was commanded to the British commando training. In 1952, the experimenting with what was first called ("close-in security men") began. At the same time as the coastal rangers took shape, the nearby combat divers (, A-dyk) also began to set up. In Sweden, the history of combat divers is closely linked to that of both coastal rangers and the clearance divers. The was established in 1954 and trained in addition to clearance divers for just over a year also the first combat divers, after which the Swedish Fleet's diving school was responsible for that training until the fleet's combat divers were disbanded in 1979. Until then, there were combat divers in both the fleet and in the coastal rangers. Since then, only the coastal rangers' combat divers remain.
In 1955, the Chief of the Navy, Vice Admiral Stig H:son Ericson received the Supreme Commander, General Nils Swedlund's permission for experimental training of coastal rangers. On 15 September 1956, Coastal Artillery Order No. 77 was issued, which meant that experimental training of coastal ranger would begin at KA 1's ("Close-In Security School") in Vaxholm - three years later renamed the Coastal Ranger School (). One of the instructors who in January 1957 received the first 89 coastal ranger aspirants was the first head of the , Captain Per Carleson, who had received special training at the French amphibious school in North Africa. Carleson's ideal instructor was, with his own words "skilful in hand-to-hand combat, skilled navigator of the archipelago, good at orienteering, preferably a combat diver, knowledgeable signaler and artillery observer, and also strong, durable and provided with good judgment". In the autumn of 1957, General Swedlund personally inspected the Coastal Ranger School and approved further training. With the beginning of 1960, the coastal rangers became part of the Swedish war organization.
The Coastal Rangers were during the late parts of the Cold War used mainly as a very highly trained commando unit whose main tasks were amphibious landings, raids and assaults. Secondary tasks were long range reconnaissance and sabotage. Since the year 2000, however, the unit has been reorganized into its current organisation and is now composed of full-time professional personnel with emphasis on reconnaissance patrols behind enemy lines but still retain the capability to conduct direct action missions.
Role
As a special operations capable reconnaissance unit, the main tasks of the Coastal Ranger is to gather intelligence, to conduct raids and to commit sabotage. They are experts in what is known internationally as "brown water" or "green water operations" that can be generally described as operations in areas where the ocean meets land. Archipelagos, river deltas, large rivers, and large lakes are examples of such areas.
The Coastal Ranger are trained at the 1st Marine Regiment which is headquartered at Berga Naval Base located in east central Sweden.
Organization
The Coastal Ranger Company is responsible for providing intelligence to the rest of the 1st Marine Regiment. The company is divided into two elements, the Assault/Commando element, and the frogmen reconnaissance element (attackdykarna). While both elements are experts in deep reconnaissance and direct action, the Commando element is more oriented on direct action than the Reconnaissance element, but the ability to conduct underwater insertions and the high stealth capability of the Reconnaissance element makes them the favourable choice for certain reconnaissance missions.