Prelude
In 1790 an attempt to assault Vyborg failed, and the Swedish navy along with King Gustav himself was caught in the Bay of Viborg. It managed to escape during the "Viborg gauntlet" on 3 July, though with heavy losses to the deep-sea navy. After retreating to Svensksund, King Gustav made a decision to make a stand there. Swedish coastal fleet was reinforced by 40 ships under Lieutenant-Colonel Carl Olof Cronstedt after the escape from Vyborg. Gustav made the decision to lead the fight personally and divided his forces into four brigades under lieutenant-colonels Carl Olof Cronstedt, Claes Hjelmstjerna, Victor von Stedingk, and Jakob Törning. Von Stedingk was to lead the center consisting of 2 hemmema (Styrbjörn and Starkotter) and 2 udema (Torborg and Ingeborg) archipelago frigates, brig Alexander, 15 galleys, 2 half-galleys, and 11 cannon or mortar longboats. Törning had the command of the right wing and had a force consisting of 39 gun sloops and 22 gun yawls while Hjelmstierna's left wing had 30 gun sloops and 14 gun yawls supported by 12 gun sloops and yawls from Cronstedts brigade. Rest of Cronstedts brigade, consisting of turuma Norden, 1 galley and 36 gun sloops and yawls, was to remain in reserve and guard possible Russian flanking maneuver. Artillery batteries were constructed to the skerries of Kråkskär (between center and right wing) and Sandskär (between center and left wing). On 8 July the preparations were completed.
Russian coastal fleet consisted of 9 archipelago frigates, 13 xebecs, 2 mortar ships, 4 gun prams, 3 floating batteries, 26 galleys, 6 schooners, 4 cutters, 77 gun sloops and 121 lightly armed boats. Russian fleet carried around 900 cannons compared to 450 Swedish cannons and had clear superiority in both number of ships and men. The Russian coastal fleet was eager to attack, especially on 9 July, the anniversary of Catherine the Great's proclamation as Empress of Russia. Recognizing the failure to decisively defeat the Swedish archipelago fleet a year earlier at the same location, Nassau-Siegen chose to commit his whole force from the south. This was done to prevent the Swedes from escaping to the shelter of Svartholm fortress since Nassau-Siegen was expecting a clear victory, having numerical superiority in ships, artillery as well as in men.
On the morning of 9 July Gustav III suddenly named Lieutenant-Colonel Cronstedt as his flag-captain after relieving the Colonel George de Frese from his duties. Reason for this sudden chance was likely that de Frese had been in favor of withdrawing from Svensksund into more favorable location while Cronstedt had advocated fighting the Russians at Svensksund.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Svensksund
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