Strategic Situation
On 15 March 1864 Denmark announced its blockade of the Prussian coast. On 17 March elements of the Danish Baltic Sea squadron appeared off Rügen in order, especially, to blockade the harbour at Swinemünde.
On 14 March 1864, King William I ordered the commander of the Prussian naval squadron off Swinemünde, Captain Eduard von Jachmann, to drive off the Danish blockade forces, or at least determine whether the blockade threatened by Denmark on 15 March 1864 existed at all. In case of bad weather or heavy Danish supremacy, Jachmann was avoid an engagement.
Breaking the blockade was actually impossible for strategic reasons. Even in the event of a major tactical defeat of the blockading forces, the sea route to the North Sea, and thus the world's oceans, would not have been opened, because the Danish Navy controlled the Øresund. In this respect, Prussia's naval situation in 1864 was similar to that of the German Empire in the First World War as a result of the British blockade of the North Sea.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Jasmund (1864)
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