The 1628 Vasa: Sweden's Warship That Sank in Plain Sight

In 1628, the Swedish warship Vasa — the most heavily armed vessel of its age — capsized and sank on its maiden voyage, just minutes after leaving port, in full view of thousands of spectators. This episode tells the story of that disaster: the political pressure from King Gustav II Adolf, the flawed design that made the ship dangerously top-heavy, the failed stability tests that were ignored, and the immediate aftermath including the scapegoating of the shipwright. We follow the Vasa from its construction at the Skeppsgården naval yard under supervision of Admiral Clas Fleming, through the disastrous launch from Stockholms ström, to the recovery efforts that began in the 1950s and culminated in the magnificent Vasa Museum on Djurgården. Along the way, we explore what the ship tells us about Sweden's ambitions as a great power, the limits of 17th-century naval engineering, and the human cost of royal hubris.

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