Battle of Vyborg Bay (1790)

For the 1944 battle, see Battle of the Bay of Viipuri.

Battle of Vyborg Bay
Part of Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790),
Battle of Vyborg Bay, by Ivan Aivazovsky
Date July 4 (June 23 OS) 1790 Location Krysserort near Vyborg, Russia Result Partial Russian victory
Belligerents
Russia	Sweden
Commanders and leaders
Vasili Chichagov	Gustav III of Sweden Prince Karl, Duke of Södermanland
Strength
50 ships 72 galleys 8 frigates 20 additional galleys 8 additional archipelago frigates 52 additional galleys 21,000 sailors and soldiers	21 ships of the line 13 frigates 366 smaller ships 3,000 guns 30,000 sailors and soldiers
Casualties and losses
	5 ships of the line 3 frigates

The Battle of Vyborg Bay (also known in Swedish literature as Gauntlet at Vyborg Bay) was a naval battle fought between Russia and Sweden on July 4, 1790 during the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790). The Swedish Navy suffered heavy losses, losing six ships of the line and four frigates, but Gustav III of Sweden eventually ensured a Swedish naval escape through a Russian naval blockade composed of units of the Baltic Fleet, commanded by Admiral Vasili Chichagov. The battle ranks among the world's largest historical naval battles and also among the most influential, as it introduced for the first time the naval battle concept of "firepower over mobility".

Origins

In 1790, King Gustav III of Sweden revived his plan for a landing close to St. Petersburg, this time near Vyborg. But the plan foundered in a disastrous attack on the Russian fleet at the Battle of Reval on May 13. A further attack on the Russian fleet off Kronstadt at the beginning of June also failed and the Swedish battlefleet and galley flotilla both retired to Vyborg Bay.

The stage for battle was set in the first week of June 1790. Northern white nights were nearly as light as the day and, to King Gustav's consternation, unfavourable southwesterly winds prevented the combined Swedish fleets of some 400 vessels from sailing southeasterly to Swedish-controlled Finnish waters. That allowed the Russian sailing battlefleet and coastal galley fleet to join forces.

King Gustav ordered a two-part Swedish naval force of 400 ships (with 3,000 guns and 30,000 sailor and soldiers) to anchor temporarily between the islands of Krysserort and Biskopsö just inside the mouth of Vyborg Bay, Russia, in the Gulf of Finland. This strategic position placed the Swedish navy within striking distance of the Russian imperial capital, Saint Petersburg.

The sailing battlefleet of 21 ships of the line, 13 frigates, various smaller ships, and 16,000 men, was led by flag-captain Admiral Nordenskiöld, under command of Grand Admiral Duke Carl, younger brother of King Gustav III of Sweden. The coastal galley flotilla (or Skärgårdsflottan) of 14,000 sailors and army soldiers was led by flag-captain Colonel George de Frese, under personal charge of Gustav III of Sweden.

On June 8, 1790, Admiral Vasili Chichagov with the Russian Baltic Fleet blockaded the only two navigable channels in and out of Vyborg Bay and locked the Swedish fleet in the bay while he waited for Prince Nassau-Siegen to arrive from Kronstadt with the Russian galley fleet. This blockade consisted of a primary force of 50 ships (with 2,718 guns and 21,000 men), and a secondary force of 20 galleys (led by Captain Shlissov), 8 rowed archipelago frigates (led by Vice-Admiral Kozlyaninov) and 52 other rowed galleys.

By Chichagov's orders, four sets of ships (each with a trailing bomb ship) were positioned east to west, broadsides to the Swedish force. The first set, led by Major General Pyotr Lezhnev consisted of four ships of the line in the narrow eastern channel. In the dangerously shallow western channel sat a set of five chain-linked ships of the line between Krysserort and Repiegrund, a set of five frigates (three led by Rear Admiral Pyotr Khanykov and two led by British-born Russian admiral Robert Crown) further south between Lilla Fiskarna island, the Pensar Islets (Pensarholmarna) and the shoreline, and a set of five ships (including two frigates) further west at Pitkäpaasi.

Meanwhile on June 18, 1790, an assault on the Russian galley fleet at Trångsund, ordered by Gustav III of Sweden and started two days earlier, failed due to lack of support of its center force and returned. Shortages of food and water prompted Gustav III of Sweden to act. On June 19 1790, he instructed admiral Nordenskiöld to formulate a plan for the breakout for when the winds changed, one which would include a distraction with gun sloops at Kanonslupar with an actual breakout at Krysserort, and one which the king would lead personally.

Then on July 2, 1790, the wind shifted to the north, favorably for the Swedish supreme command at Vyborg Bay, which met in session, and a Swedish reconnaissance force apprehended a Russian unit at Björkö sound in the Battle of Björkö sound.

Battle

On June 21 1790, Prince Nassau-Siegen, with 89 ships attacked the Swedes at Bjorke Sound. Then at nightfall on July 3 (June 22 OS), 1790 Gustav III of Sweden ordered the breakout to commence from Krysserort at ten o'clock on the following day.

At two o'clock a.m. on July 4, 1790, Swedish units bombarded Russian shore batteries. At the same time, Swedish sloops, led by Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Tönningen, attacked a Russian naval unit just west of Vasikansaari Island, west of Björkö sound.

Just prior to seven o'clock a.m. that morning, Gustav III of Sweden spoke with then captain Count Johan af Puke of the 64-gun ship of the line, Dristigheten (In English the 'Bravery), which would lead the breakout. He appealed to Puke for a sense of courage and spirit similar to Puke's father's. Moments later, Puke, aboard Dristigheten, led a line of ships and the Swedish naval fleet away from the bay, through the western channel, around the Salvors shallows into the middle of the channel between the shallows and Krysserort, and towards the first Russian set's ships of the line, the Seslav and Saint Peter.

This line of ships consisted of the flagship Konung Gustaf III (King Gustaf III) (with Prince Grand Admiral Duke Carl aboard), Seraphimerorden (with Gustav III of Sweden aboard) - in the line's center, the Manligheten (the Manliness sister ship to Dristigheten), the other ships of line, the navy frigates, the frigate Zemire, the 70-gun ship of the line Enigheten (the Unity), and three fire barges, used to set fire to enemy ships. Meanwhile, the flotilla protected the naval fleet, on a parallel course further west, nearer the shoreline.

Suddenly, Gustav III transferred onto a smaller sloop. Puke ordered all non-essential personnel below decks and, moments later, the Swedish navy engaged the Russian blockade, splitting between the Selsav and the Saint Peter. Gustav III of Sweden was rowed through the fire, but the flagship Konung Gustaf III was hit and the Grand Admiral Duke Carl injured. One Russian ship was destroyed by multiple broadside hits.

Once through the first set of ships, Gustav III of Sweden reboarded Seraphimerorden. The king's personal ship, Amphion survived with no damage. Further west, the galley fleet line of ships consisting sequentially of the frigates Styrbjörn and Norden (the North), six Turuma squadron ships, Säallan Värre (the rarely worse) , the remaining archipelago frigates, the Malmberg ships, the Hjelmstierna ships, and Colonel Jacob Tönningen's assigned gun sloops and gun tenders, passed the first Russian set of ships, then engaged the second. Styrbjörn though under heavy fire, managed to pass through and score several hits on Russian commander Povalishin's ship and on the bomb ship Pobeditel.

As the brunt of both Swedish fleets passed through the blockade, Ensign Sandels, commanding the fire barge, Postiljonen (the Postman) towed by the 74-gun ship of the line Enigheten, set his ship on fire too early. It drifted towards Enigheten, set it on fire, and then collided with and exploded with the Swedish 40-gun frigate Zemire in an enormous channel-covering cascade of debris and smoke. The explosion severely damaged or destroyed only ships within or trying to get through the blockade. The Russian ship sets blocking the Swedish fleets' were basically destroyed by passing Swedish ships.

The Swedish navy lost altogether eight ships (seven due to heavy smoke from the explosion): four grounded ships of the line - the 64-gun Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta (though her captain, Jindric Johan Nauckhoff, continued firing at the Russian frigates until the end), Finland, at the Salvors shallows, the 74-gun Lovisa Ulrika, at the Passaloda shallows just south of Reipie, and the 64-gun Ömheten (the tenderness), at the Pensar islets - and one shipwrecked ship of the line ("The Auroras"), although the king's British naval adviser Sidney Smith was saved; three frigates including Uppland and Jarrislawitz (captured in 1788 from Russia), both at the Passaloda shallows; and about 4,000 Swedes.

The Swedish galley flotilla lost four galleys due to the shallows: Ehrenpreuss, Palmstierna, Ekeblad and Uppland, all grounded at the Pensar islet, close to the second set of Russian ships and the Russian ship Nole Me Tangere, where they struck their flag.

Aftermath

The Swedish warships that survived the breakout headed into open seas, assembled at Vidskär skerry just south of Pitkäpaasi, and then sailed to Sveaborg fortress near Helsinki, Finland for repairs. Chichagov was late in pursuing the Swedish navy, but pursued them to Sveaborg. The next day, Captain Crown captured the 62-gun Retvisan with the help of the 66-gun Izyaslav.

The Swedish battlefleet retired to Sveaborg for repairs while the Swedish galley flotilla made for a strong defensive position at Svensksund, near Kotka. An impetuous Russian attack on the Swedish galley flotilla on July 9 at the Second Battle of Svensksund resulted in a disaster for the Russians that offset the Swedish defeat at Vyborg Bay.

Sources & References

• Anderson, R.C. Naval Wars in the Baltic, 1522–1850 (London, 1969)
• Derry, T.K. 'Scandinavia' in The New Cambridge Modern History, Volume IX (Cambridge, 1965).
• Lambert, Andrew D. War at Sea in the Age of the Sail 1650-1850. 1956. ISBN 0-304-35246-2.
• Mitchell, Donald W. A History of Russian and Soviet Sea Power (Macmillan, New York, 1974).
• Article "The 'gauntlet' at Vyborg Bay" at Hans Högman's Genealogy and History site retrieved July 6, 2006
• Article "The Navy" at Hans Högman's Genealogy and History site retrieved July 19, 2006
• Article "The Galley Fleet / The Army Fleet" at at Hans Högman's Genealogy and History site retrieved July 19, 2006
• Article "The 'Gauntlet' at Vyborg Bay" retrieved on July 20, 2006.
• The History of Russian Navy retrieved on July 20, 2006.

External links

• From Hogland to Barezund in History of Russian Navy
• The Swedish Navy 1788–1809