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Mission command is broadly known and used in military organisations all over the world, and a lot of research has been done about its practical use in different nations armed forces. Although mission command is widely used and well-spoken for, its usage in a naval context is practically unresearched.This despite the difference in the environment between the armed forces that situate on land, and the navy that operate at sea. A ship must always adapt to the ever-changing environment that is the sea.

Furthermore, the sea poses a series of threats that the navy must manage in peacetime as well as wartime. These threat scan be fires and water breakage which puts a lot of pressure on the crew that needs to handle these by themselves without being able to rely on any other support.

This paper examines how and when mission command is used onboard the Swedish navy’s vessels and if there is a discrepancy of using mission command between leaders and type of activities. This is examined by a questionnaire study that has been answered by 44 officers and junior NCO’s thatserve in the Swedish navy.

The result shows that mission command is practised to different extents and differentiate between officers, senior NCO’s and junior NCO’s. It was also shown that mission command is practised depending on type of military activity.