Background
Circumstances in the 1780s, including the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, and the moving of a portion of the Russian Baltic Fleet to the Black Sea, prompted the Swedish King, Gustav III to attack the Russian Empire in 1788. It was also initiated to distract domestic attention from domestic political problems and for the king to be able to fulfill his role as a successful and powerful monarch.
Gustav's main aim was to recapture some of the territory in Finland that had been lost to the Russians in the disastrous war of 1741-43. In 1788, he launched a surprise attack against the Russian fleet, intending to catch it by surprise. The plan was to attack Kronstadt and land a force to assault the capital of St Petersburg.
The war was intended to be short and to be won by the assault aton St Petersburg, conducted by the navy and skärgårdsflottan (the "archipelago navy"). The latter, officially designated as Arméns flotta ("navy of the army") was a separate branch of the armed forces designed for coastal operations and amphibious warfare in the Baltic. Since its formation in 1756, it had been something of an elite within the Swedish armed forces. However, after the Battle of Hogland (1788) (a tactical tie but a strategic failure for the Swedes) Gustav lost the initiative and tensions in Sweden rose. The first battle of Svensksund on 24 August 1789 ended in a Swedish defeat.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Svensksund
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