After the war, the ship was upgraded between 1950 and 1951 with enhanced fire control and an armament improved with the introduction of the Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun.

The Göteborg or city class were a development of the Ehrensköld-class destroyer with a higher speed achieved by introducing superheating and lightening the structure through using welding rather than rivets.

After the success of the first two members of the class, Göteborg and Stockholm, both laid down in 1933, the Swedish Riksdag authorised an additional two ships of the same design, including Karlskrona, in 1936.

[3] Power was provided by three Penhoët oil-fired boilers feeding two de Laval geared steam turbines driving two shafts.

New materials allowed the boilers to be superheated to 125 °C (257 °F), which raised the rated power to e 32,000 shaft horsepower (24,000 kW) to give a design speed of 39 knots (72 km/h; 45 mph).

[4] A total of 150 tonnes (150 long tons) of fuel oil was carried to give a range of 1,200 nautical miles (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).

The central gun was moved aft to a superfiring position, which greatly enhanced the operational capability as the funnels had restricted fire.