Battle of Svensksund - Battle

Battle

At 0800 on 9 July 1790 Russian flagship signaled the attack. By 0930 first ships had reached firing distance in the western flank but soon after fighting had spread throughout the battle lines. The Swedish right wing under Lieutenant Colonel Törning met with increasing resistance as Russian left wing opposing him got reinforced. However Swedes were able to move ships their reserves to support their right wing with a counter attack which managed to led the Russian left wing into disorder. Meanwhile the increasingly strong southwesterly wind forced Russian center deeper between converging Swedish lines. After no Russian ships were seen approaching from Frederiskhamn Swedes were able to release more ships from reserves to bolster the Swedish left wing led by Lieutenant Colonel Hjelmstierna. Half of the Hjelmstierna's ships were sent to the rear of the Russian fleet through narrow passage between Legma and Kutsalö which in turn forced Russian right wing to deploy accordingly. However movement to back of the line was read as signal to withdraw in Russian left wing which started its retreat leaving Russian center to face Swedes alone.

By the evening it had become apparent that Swedes were victorious even though Russian center consisting of their galleys and largest ships continued to fight despite of unfavorable winds and battle damages. At this time Swedes were able fire at the Russian ships from front as well as from both sides and several Russian ships started drifting into Swedish battle line while others other caught fire or were intentionally set on fire while few were beached to avoid sinking. At 2000 ordered Naussau-Siegen to withdraw and to destroy drifting Russian ships to prevent them being captured. Strong winds made the withdrawal difficult and several ships failed to make it. Few of the Russian ships ignored the order to withdraw and instead kept fighting until they sunk. Fighting didn't end until 2200. However 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 then down and this type of fighting continued until 0900 on the morning of 10 July 1790.

The Russians lost around 7,400 of at least 14,000 men dead, wounded and captured, compared with Swedish losses of one udema, four minor vessels and 300 men. Though others place the number of dead and wounded Swedes to around 600. Among the Russian ships that were lost were 10 "archipelago frigates" (sail/oar hybrids) and xebecs, 9 "half-xebecs" (schooners), 16 galleys, 4 gun prams and floating batteries, 7 bomb vessels, 5 gun sloops and several other small vessels. Along with 21 other ships the Swedes captured the Catarina, flagship of Nassau-Siegen.

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 to have destroyed 40 percent of the Russian coastal fleet. It qualifies among the largest naval battles in history in terms of the number of vessels involved.