Battle of Dynekilen - Background

Background

On 28 October 1709 Frederik IV of Denmark, the Danish-Norwegian king declared war against Sweden. The war declaration came after the Swedish defeat at the Battle of Poltava, which resulted in a decisive victory for Peter I of Russia over Charles XII of Sweden.

In the naval enactment, a light Danish-Norwegian force under Peter Tordenskjold trapped and defeated a similar Swedish force in Dynekilen fjord, just north of Strömstad, on the west coast of Sweden. 80 percent of the sailors and 90 percent of the soldiers in Tordenskjold's force were Norwegian. The Swedes had been escorting troops from Göteborg to Fredrikstad.

The Danish-Norwegian flotilla defeated the Swedes, who had arranged their ships and boats defensively, and destroyed a small island fort equipped with six 12-pounder guns. The largest Swedish ship, Stenbock, surrendered, after which the lighter vessels were run aground and abandoned. A Swedish land force then arrived, forcing Tordenskjold to quickly leave, taking with him some of the captured Swedish ships. The rest was destroyed. The Dano-Norwegian force suffered 76 casualties.

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