Battle of Svensksund
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Second Battle of Svensksund / Rochensalm / Ruotsinsalmi | |||||||
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Part of the Russo-Swedish War (1788–90) | |||||||
The battle as depicted by Swedish painter Johan Tietrich Schoultz | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Sweden | Russia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Karl von Nassau | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
14,000 men 275 ships[a] |
18,500 men 200–274 ships[b] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
600–700 killed and wounded 6 ships sunk or destroyed[c] |
10,000 killed, wounded and captured 50–80 ships sunk, destroyed or captured[d] | ||||||
Notes
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The Second Battle of Svensksund (
Background
Circumstances in the 1780s, including the war between the Russian Empire and the
Gustav's main aim was to recapture some of the territory in Finland that had been lost to the Russians in the
The war was intended to be short and to be won by the assault on St Petersburg, conducted by the navy and
Prelude
In 1790 an attempt to assault
The Russian coastal fleet consisted of nine archipelago frigates, 13
On the morning of 9 July Gustav III suddenly named Lieutenant-Colonel Cronstedt as his flag-captain after relieving Colonel George de Frese from his duties. The reason for this sudden change was likely that de Frese had been in favor of withdrawing from Svensksund to a more favorable location while Cronstedt had advocated fighting the Russians at Svensksund.[13]
Battle
At 08:00 on 9 July the Russian flagship signaled the attack. By 09:30 the first ships had reached firing distance in the western flank but soon after fighting spread throughout the battle lines.[14] The Swedish right wing under Lieutenant Colonel Törning met with increasing resistance as the Russian left wing opposing him was reinforced. However, the Swedes were able to move ships from their reserves to support their right wing with a counterattack which managed to lead the Russian left wing into disorder.[9] [dead link] Meanwhile, an increasingly strong southwesterly wind forced the Russian center deeper between converging Swedish lines.[15] The strong winds also made it difficult for the Russians to aim their guns, a problem affecting the Swedish ships much less, as the Russian ships acted as a wavebreaker in front of them.
After no Russian ships were seen approaching from
By the evening it had become apparent that the Swedes were victorious even though the Russian center, consisting of their galleys and largest ships, continued to fight despite unfavorable winds and battle damage. At this time the Swedes were able to fire at the Russian ships from the front as well as from both sides and several Russian ships started drifting into the Swedish battle line.[8] Other Russian ships caught fire or were intentionally set on fire, while a few were beached to avoid sinking. At 20:00 Naussau-Siegen ordered the Russian fleet to withdraw and to destroy drifting Russian ships in order to keep them from being captured. Strong winds made the withdrawal difficult and several ships failed to escape. A few Russian ships ignored the order to withdraw and instead kept fighting until they sank. Fighting did not end until 22:00. The wind calmed down during the night and several Russian ships tried to escape under the cover of darkness but Swedish gun sloops and yawls were sent to hunt them down, and this fighting continued until 09:00 on the morning of 10 July 1790.[17]
The Russians lost at least 7,400 of 14,000 men; 1,400 dead, wounded and 6,000 captured, compared with Swedish losses of one udema, five minor vessels and 300 men; others place the number of dead and wounded Swedes to around 600.[18] Among the Russian ships that were lost were 10 "archipelago frigates" (sail/oar hybrids) and xebecs, nine half-xebecs (schooners), 16 galleys, four gun prams and floating batteries, seven bomb vessels, five gun sloops and several other small vessels.[19] Along with 21 other ships the Swedes captured the Catarina, Nassau-Siegen's flagship.
The battle of Svensksund is the biggest naval battle ever fought in the Baltic Sea: 500 ships (including supply ships and other ships not involved in combat), over 30,000 men and several thousand cannons. At Svensksund, the Swedes boasted that they destroyed 40 percent of the Russian coastal fleet.
Aftermath
Surviving Russian ships gathered at Frederikshamn where the badly depleted fleet was being rebuilt while the Swedish coastal fleet stayed at Svensksund. The Swedes later sent a squadron of 25 gun sloops closer to Frederikshamn but they were turned back on 5 August by the rebuilt Russian coastal fleet.[20] The Swedes withdrew back to Svensksund but the Russians did not give chase.[18]
This defeat encouraged Russia to negotiate with Sweden, eventually signing the
Sankt Nikolai
The Russian frigate Sankt Nikolai was sunk in the battle. She was found in 1948 off Kotka, almost intact. Over 2,300 objects have been recovered from her hull by divers.[22]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Svensksund 1790–1940. Sveriges Flotta & Sjöhistoriska Samfundet. Förening för sjövärn och sjöfart, Stockholm. pp. 91–141
- ^ a b c "En rysk historikers skildring av slaget vid Svensksund 1790. Kesar Ordin. Sjöhistoriska Samfundet. (translated to Swedish from Russian). pp. 15–25" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 January 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ Фрагмент Главы XII. Шведско-русская война 1788–1790 гг. Штенцель. "История войны на море
- ^ Slaget vid Svensksund, Peter Englund. Essä, 2015
- ^ Alm, Mikael (2003). "Teaterkungen på slagfältet". Svenska Krig och Krigiska Svenskar (in Swedish). Lund: Historiska Media: 71.
- ^ a b Mattila 1983, pp. 210–211.
- ^ a b c "The Swedish-Russian sea battles of 1790". Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2015.[self-published source]
- ^ a b "Kriget mot Ryssland och slaget vid Svensksund". SO-rummet. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ a b "Pennan & Svärdet – Pennan & Svärdet". Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ISBN 978-1405335058. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ Mattila 1983, pp. 209–210.
- ^ Mattila 1983, p. 212.
- ^ Mattila 1983, pp. 212–213.
- ^ "1790 Slaget vid Svensksund (Fi12)". Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ Sjöhistoriskasamfundet – Svensksund Archived 10 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 6 July 2015
- ^ Mattila 1983, pp. 213–214.
- ^ Mattila 1983, p. 214.
- ^ a b Mattila 1983, p. 215.
- ^ Jan Glete, "Kriget till sjöss 1788–90" in Artéus (1992), pp. 162–64 for total strength and losses.
- ^ Historik – Svensksund Archived 12 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 6 July 2015
- ISBN 978-1854092878.
- ^ "St. Nikolai". National Board of Antiquities. Archived from the original on 2 August 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
References
- (in Swedish) Artéus, Gunnar, Gustav III:s ryska krig. Probus, Stockholm. 1992. ISBN 91-87184-09-5
- (in Swedish) Ericsson Wolke, Lars & Martin Hårdstedt, Svenska sjöslag. Medströms förlag, Stockholm. 2009. ISBN 978-91-7329-030-2
- (in Finnish) Mattila, Tapani (1983). Meri maamme turvana [Sea safeguarding our country] (in Finnish). Jyväskylä: K. J. Gummerus Osakeyhtiö. ISBN 951-99487-0-8.
External links
- Vyborg and Rochensalm Archived 14 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine in History of Russian Navy
- The Sea Battle at Svensksund 1790
- The Swedish-Russian Sea Battles of 1790
- The Swedish Navy 1788–1809
- Ruotsinsalmi from the east
- The wreck of Saint Nikolai
- Description of the battle
- Overview of the 1790 Swedish-Russian sea battles