[6] In 1998, parts of the city, including the Karlskrona Naval Base, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A couple of kilometers away on the mainland there was another, older town called Lyckeby or Lyckå (today a city district of Karlskrona).

The location was strategically advantageous on an island in the archipelago with control over the link to the mainland and surrounded by islets where fortifications were erected to protect the naval base.

Until 1679, the island and the nearby islets were owned by the farmer Vittus Andersson; he was now forced to sell his properties to the Swedish crown.

The first city plan, drawn up in 1683 by Erik Dahlbergh, Hans Wachtmeister and Carl Magnus Stuart, shows Karlskrona as a pure fortress.

With its large open piazza where the church, town hall and state administration are located in the outer edges of the square, it follows the baroque pattern.

The large military area and the shipyard show that Karlskrona, as the kingdom's southern gate, was long considered a very important city to defend.

[12] In October 1981 the Whiskey-class Soviet submarine S-363 (known as "U137" in Sweden) ran aground in the archipelago near Sturkö just outside Karlskrona.

The islet of Stumholmen was formerly property of the Navy and today it houses the National Naval Museum (Marinmuseum).

Barely fulfilling the precipitation criteria, the climate can best be classified as a hybrid between Oceanic and Cold semi-arid (Cfb/BSk) with dry-spring/early-summers and wet winters.

Due to its location in the rain shadow of the South Swedish highlands, Karlskrona has one of the driest and sunniest climates in all of Sweden.

The precipitation pattern of a drying summer, can easily be found elsewhere in North American locales such as Skagway, Soldotna or even inland Flagstaff.

In comparison with other well-known warm-summer Mediterranean areas such as the Pacific Northwest or Northwestern Iberia, Karlskrona has a relatively dry climate with annual sunshine hours matching – or even exceeding – famous cities such as Seattle or A Coruña.

Summer sunshine-values is in direct competition with traditionally Mediterranean cities such as Rome, Nice, Lisbon or even Madrid.

Humidity however, remains high throughout the entire year, partly due to the constant winds blowing in from the sea.

Thanks to its coastal position on the south coast of Sweden right by the Baltic Sea, Karlskrona experiences relatively speaking mild weather year round with a strong seasonal lag.

Summer days are often gloriously sunny affairs and starts during May and extends into September with daytime highs pleasantly hovering around 20°C.

In accordance with Karlskrona’s poleward location, day time hours quickly dwindle during October resulting in grey overcast skies lasting until the end of February.

Every year in late July/early August a popular festival called The Sail takes place in the harbor of Karlskrona.

During the sail, the sea scouts of Karlskrona will row a boat carrying torches along the docks while playing the national anthems for the visiting ships.

[citation needed] Nicodème Tessin l'Ancien was responsible for the design of the buildings, and he gave the city a very uniform baroque style.

[citation needed] The central building of the city is the Fredrikskyrkan church, built in the 1690s,[20] On the main square, which is also the highest point of the island.

The English translation of that text is "I humbly beg of you, even though my voice may be weak, come and put a penny in but first lift my hat.

Near the church is also the Admiralstorn Tower, dating from 1699, originally used to indicate the time for the shipyard workers but used since 1909 as the church tower[24] Finally, the city has some more recent buildings, such as the model room, having hosted between 1780 and 1920 models of boats,[25] Now transferred to the Marine Museum, or the town hall built after the fire of 1790.

The city is positioned at the south east corner of Sweden with excellent connections to the other side of the Baltic Sea.

The E22 connects the main cities of southern Sweden such as Malmö, Lund, Kristianstad, then climbs along the east coast towards Kalmar and Norrköping.

[32] The town received a new railway line in 1889 when the future Blekinge kustbana, linking Kristianstad to Karlskrona, was built.

[33] There is a regular ferry service from Karlskrona to Gdynia in Poland, operated by Stena Line, with an average of two return trips per day.

There is also a Catholic Church, Our Lady of Fatima, at Södra Kungsgatan 1, 371 30 Karlskrona[38] The city is the main campus of Blekinge tekniska högskola, an Institute of Technology founded in 1989,[39] which is one of the few högskolor (university colleges) in Sweden with the right to issue a doctorate,[40] thus having a status quite similar to that of a real university.

Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin start an action to free a group of Catalan forces still in French service on a fictional island on the Pomeranian coast.