Designed in 1926 as a Seaplane Carrier but launched in 1933 as a six inch armed Seaplane Cruiser, Gotland was a one of a kind cruiser for the Svenska marinen acting as the centerpiece of one it's three light cruiser groups. Equipped with imported Hawker Ospreys (replaced in game with Saab S 17BS), she and her recon planes detected Bismarck as it made a break for the Atlantic Ocean, triggering the events of the Battle of Denmark Strait.
I've been going hard at it trying to figure out if what she's wearing is a Swedish traditional dress, or at least closely inspired by such. What I've learned is that there's hundreds of different traditional outfits in Sweden as each region has its own. Hell, villages within those regions have their own set of traditional outfits. Google searches and Wikipedia doesn't really return anything resembling this.
The biggest issue is that people really like colour. A solid black apron over a solid black skirt is not something I found any examples of and if the apron has a trim it's usually only on the end, not the sides like it is here. The traditional dresses also come with vests worn over the white shirt, something which Gotland here isn't wearing. Most traditional dresses don't have raised collars like that and when they do they are usually the same colour as the rest of the shirt. The band she has around her hip doesn't match anything I found, whether in shape or pattern. Nor have I found any with a hat like that as the traditional dresses are usually worn with a scarf on the head.
The pictures I looked at on Wikipedia far from covers every single regional outfit, but there was still quite a lot. Here are the closest ones I could find:
Then I looked up Norwegian traditional dresses and I found out about a type of outfit called a "bunad", which is supposedly a fancier type of traditional dress. And look what I found:
Look at that purse-like thing hanging on the side. It's just like what Gotland has (with deck rails as the pattern). There's no doubt in my mind that the artist confused Sweden and Norway and drew Gotland in Norwegian traditional dress instead of Swedish!
My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined! (lol) I'm removing the Sweden tag and there's no chance that I add the Swedish clothes tag. I'm gonna add a Norwegian clothes tag instead.
