Battle of Bornholm (1676)

Battle Of Bornholm (1676)

The battle of Bornholm was a naval battle between a superior Swedish and a smaller Danish-Dutch fleet that was fought 25–26 May 1676 as a part of the Scanian War. The objective for both sides was naval supremacy in the southern Baltic Sea. The Swedish commander Lorentz Creutz sought to destroy the allied fleet and then land reinforcements in Pomerania to relieve the Swedish forces in northern Germany. The aim of the Danish fleet under Niels Juel was to prevent the reinforcement, but without risking destruction by the superior numbers of the Swedish forces.

The Danish navy managed to put to sea by March and managed to conquer the Swedish island of Gotland before the Swedish fleet even managed to get out of its base in Stockholm. The two fleets sighted each other on the morning of 25 May and by night came within firing range of one another near the Jasmund Peninsula off the northeast corner of Rügen. Darkness put an end to the battle after both forces had turned north. Fighting was resumed on the morning of the 26th and went on with both fleets formed in lines of battle, without any attempts at forcing boarding actions. In the afternoon Juel broke off for Øresund (the strait between Sweden and Denmark), where the allied fleet anchored in the shoals of Falsterborev (Falsterbo reef), off the Scanian coast. Creutz did not dare pursue and anchored off Trelleborg to receive instructions from Swedish King Charles XI.

The Swedish force lost three small vessels, an insignificant loss tactically, but the allied fleet still won a strategic victory. Juel's force, though somewhat battered, was nevertheless intact and would be reinforced two days later with an additional nine ships, along with the experienced Dutch admiral Cornelis Tromp, who took over the command. The inability to force a decisive action against the allied fleet sparked a row between Creutz and his officers, severely crippling Swedish discipline and cohesion. Only a few days after the battle of Bornholm, on June 1, the Swedish fleet suffered a serious defeat at the battle of Öland and lost control of the Baltic for the rest of the year.