Battle of Copenhagen (1807) - Bombardment

Bombardment

British troops commanded by General Wellesley defeated a weak Danish force of militia, then a much larger force of Danish regulars in the Battle of Køge, south of Copenhagen.

The Danes rejected British demands to surrender, so the British fleet under Admiral Gambier bombarded the city from 2 to 5 September 1807. The British bombardment of Copenhagen killed more than 2,000 civilians and destroyed 30% of the buildings. The bombardment had included Congreve Rockets, which caused fires.

On 5 September the Danes sued for peace and the capitulation was signed on 7 September. Denmark agreed to surrender its navy and its naval stores. In return the British undertook to leave Copenhagen within six weeks.

Peymann had been under orders from the Crown Prince to burn the Danish fleet, which he failed to do, though the reason for his failure to do so is unknown.

Thus, on 7 September 1807 Peymann surrendered the fleet (eighteen ships of the line, eleven frigates, two smaller ships, two ship-sloops, seven brig-sloops, two brigs, one schooner and twenty-six gunboats). In addition, the British broke up or destroyed three 74-gun ships-of-the-line on the stocks, along with two of the aforementioned ships-of-the-fleet and two elderly frigates.

After her capture, one ex-Danish ship-of-the-line, Neptunos, ran aground and was burnt on or near the island of Hven. Then, when a storm arose in the Kattegat, the British destroyed or abandoned twenty-three of the captured gunboats. The British added the fifteen captured ships-of-the-line that reached Britain to the British Navy but only four — Christian VII 80, Dannemark 74, Norge 74 and Princess Carolina 74 — saw subsequent active service.

On 21 October 1807, the British fleet left Copenhagen for the United Kingdom. However, the war continued until 1814, when the Treaty of Kiel was signed.