Naval Blockade of Reval (1726)
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Draft:Naval Blockade of Reval (1726)
In the summer of 1726, a joint force of British and Danish ships blockaded the Russian fleet in the harbour of Reval
The British Account
see Baltic Fleet (United Kingdom) which names Admiral Charles Wager in command. This first wikiarticle reports the blockade was lifted on 1 November (cf Danish account 1 October) but the Admiral's article has his fleet entering the Thames on 1 November
The Danish account
The end of the Great Northern War meant the end of nearly 200 years Danish-Swedish rivalry for the control of the Baltic. A third naval power, Russia, with borders on the Baltic, now became a player. Nearly 13 years of war had taken its toll on both the navy and the national treasury.[1] In 1725 many of the Danish fleet's ships-of-the-line were laid up by order of the Danish Admiralty, as it was perceived that all danger of war had receded.[2]
On 25 May 1726 Rear Admiral Michael Bille sailed from Copenhagen under sealed orders with a fleet of eight ships-of-the-line and four frigates. His flagship was Nordstiernen and many of his fleet were in poor condition, and leaky.[2]
On 13 June the admiral ordered ship-of-the-line Laaland back to Copenhagen as the ship was severely dilapidated. He expressed the opinion that this would not be the last such ship to be retired from his fleet.[2]
Meeting up as planned with with a similar sized British squadron off Dars (west of Rügen) the joint fleet arrived off Reval on 26 June 1726 and instituted a blockade of the Russian fleet in Reval (modern day Tallinn) from 7 July.[2]
Ship-of-the-line Ebenetzer had sprung a leak near the island of Gulland (modern name Gotland) and was escorted back to Denmark by the frigate Søridderen.[2]
On the approaches to Reval harbour ship-of-the-line Beskiermeren ran aground and would have become a wreck but but for the timely intervention of the British admiral. She was refloated without damage.[3]
The frigates Høyenhald and Søridderen were both reported leaky, the former more so.
On 14 July the ship-of-the-line Fyen arrived to join the blockading fleet. With her there was a cargo ship of provisions.
- Withdrawal
Reports. dated 22 October, of the withdrawal of the blockaders were sent to Copenhagen after the flagship arrived in Danzig harbour. The combined fleet had lifted the blockade on 1 October, sailing westward with a good wind but on the 2 October storm, bad weather and contrary winds forced the Danish ships, which could not keep up with the British squadron, to seek shelter in the lee of Gulland (Gotland). Many of the ships were short of water, which they sought to replenish at Slyte harbour in the north of that island. Further storms ravaged the Danish ships in the second week of October as they left Gotland. Three ships - Beskiermeren, Island and Slesvig lost all contact with the flagship; the rest of the fleet was also scattered but managed to regain contact after two days. Fyen and Delmenhorst were leaking badly, and such was the damage to most of the ships that food could not be prepared. The reduced squadron limped into Danzig on 19 October and proceeded with making repairs.[2] The crews were also in poor shape - scurvy and pneumonias in the four ships with the flagship had accounted for 110 dead and 130 too ill for duty.[2]
The squadron arrived back in Copenhagen on 19 November and was disbanded. The investigation by the Danish Admiralty into all the accidents and poor management of the 1726 campaign were to reverberate for the next three years.[2]
- Aftermath
- 1726
Immediately on the Danish fleet's return to Copenhagen, the Danish Admiralty began demanding explanations for[2]
- the grounding of HDMS Beskiermeren
- the provisioning of the taskforce, about which there had been many complaints
- the offence and arrest of Lieutenant Wegersløff, junior lieutenant on the flagship[4] (who misunderstood his orders regarding issuance of rations)
- why the Danish squadron became separated from the British
- the separation of some of the squadron's ships from the flagship, namely three ships-of-the-line and two frigates, without orders.
- and all else that had come to pass during the campaign.
- 1727
A planned taskforce of eight ships-of-the-line and five frigates and a number of smaller ships was to have left Copenhagen in June 1727 to continue observations of the Russian fleet in the Baltic in cooperation with a British squadron, but this was cancelled because of the death of the British monarch [2]
- 1728 - 1729
On 20 December 1728 a commission of inquiry[Note 2] was appointed to investigate the case. Michael Bille was given the terms of reference of this commission in February 1729 and gave his response in defence on 14 June. The investigation was abandoned in September 1729 when Michael Bille was appointed head of the Copenhagen naval base of Holmen - a post which he held for the next six years. 215 men had died on the Reval expedition.[2]
The Russian account
The Russian fleet did not stir from its safe anchorage throughout the blockade.
Notes
- ^ Danish ships-of-the-line Beskiermeren, Delmenhorst, Ebenetzer, Fyen, Island, Laaland, Nordstiernen (flag), Slesvig and Wenden (of these, two did not reach Reval and three got separated from the fleet on retreat from Reval. One arrived at Reval after the blockade had begun). Danish frigates Høyenhald, Søridderen and two more names not recorded, plus lesser support ships.
- ^ comprising Admiral Frants Trojel, Vice Admiral Schindel, Rear Admiral Vosbein, and Legal Advisers Dreesen and Johnsen
References
Citations
- Royal Danish Naval Museum website - Danish ships
- (in Danish)T. A. Topsøe-Jensen og Emil Marquard (1935) “Officerer i den dansk-norske Søetat 1660–1814 og den danske Søetat 1814–1932" (Danish Naval Officers). Two volumes (downloadable here).