The History Column: Solveig Krey

This is the 25th History Column. To mark the milestone, this column describes a piece of history that is more recent than any so far, but no less remarkable.

Solveig Krey was born in 1963 in Harstad in the Vesterålen archipelago among the fjords in the north of Norway, inside the Arctic circle. She made her career as an officer in the Royal Norwegian Navy, and passed the demanding ‘Perisher’ qualifying course for submarine commanders. On 11 September 1995 she took command of the submarine KNM Kobben, and so made history as the world’s first female submarine commander. This was a significant personal achievement, as well as showing that women are fully capable of commanding a combat vessel. The Scandinavian countries were early and active proponents of gender equality at sea, and the Royal Norwegian Navy was the first in the world to allow women to serve aboard their submarines in 1985, at the height of the Cold War.

She subsequently went on to command another, larger boat , the 1,150-ton KNM Uredd (Fearless). In 2012 she became Commander-in-Chief of the Norwegian submarine fleet – again, a first for a woman.

Solveig Krey, in the rank of Commander. Also visible is the dolphin emblem, worn by qualified submariners (photo: Norwegian Armed Forces).

Asked about her career and her experiences, she said: ‘In a rather small space underwater the submarine crew is totally dependent on each other. It is very satisfying as a commander to have a high performance crew that you can count on in all situations. The dolphin emblem is known worldwide, a brand that recognizes a submariner’s qualifications and qualities’.

Nowadays, female crewmembers, both officers and ratings, serve in the submarines of many navies worldwide, and the experience is reported to be almost universally positive. The reference gives an account of the issues and experiences. These are perhaps similar in some respects to those encountered with female space crew.

She has a MBA from Grenoble Business School in France, and she graduated from the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.

She concluded her distinguished career in 2023 as the Chief of the Operations Department of the Norwegian Defence Staff. During her service, the most important things to her were the people and the comradeship, prepared for any mission together at sea as well as in the Armed Forces generally. After 40 years of service, she retired from active duty on 1 August 2023 in the rank of Rear Admiral.

In recognition of her contributions to strengthen Franco-Norwegian relations, she was appointed Knight of the National Order of Merit by France in 2021.

Solveig Krey in command of KNM Kobben.

Further information may be found in:

• LCdr Debbie Pestell, MD, Experiences with Mixed Gender Submarine Crews, NATO  RTO-MP-HFM-158, 13-15 October 2008.

Authored by Hugh Griffiths
University College London