Battle of Hogland
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| Battle of Hogland | |||||||
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| Part of Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790) | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Sweden |
 Russia |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Prince Karl, Duke of Södermanland | Samuel Greig | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 15 ships of the line | 17 ships of the line | ||||||
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The naval Battle of Hogland took place on 17 July (July 6 OS) 1788 during the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790).
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[edit] Origins
On the outbreak of war with Russia in 1788, Sweden planned to attack the Russian capital St. Petersburg. One Swedish army was to advance through Finland; a second army, accompanied by the Swedish coastal flotilla, was to advance along the Finnish coast into the Gulf of Finland; while a third army sailed with the Swedish battlefleet in order to land at Oranienbaum to advance on St. Petersburg. To succeed, the Russian Baltic Fleet had to be eliminated or blockaded in its ports at Reval (now Tallinn) and Kronstadt.
In early July, the Swedish battlefleet of 15 ships of the line sailed into the Gulf of Finland. A hastily assembled Russian fleet of 17 ships of the line under Admiral Samuel Greig met the Swedish fleet off Hogland Island on July 17, 1788.
[edit] Battle
The two fleets were fairly evenly matched, but while Greig was an experienced commander, Duke Karl seems to have spent much of the battle in his cabin. Duke Karl’s flagship was forced out of the line, shrouded in smoke. Greig’s flagship, the 100-gun Rostislav then attacked the 70-gun Prins Gustav, commanded by Vice-Admiral Gustav Wachtmeister, which was forced to surrender. Elsewhere, the Swedes disabled the 74-gun Vladislav, which lost its steering and was then surrounded by Swedish vessels before surrendering to the 62-gun Kronprins Gustav Adolf. The fighting continued for six hours, and the fleets only separated after dark with the Swedish ships beginning to run out of ammunition.
[edit] Aftermath
Unusually for a naval battle, both sides captured one ship. The Russians suffered the worst casualties, losing about 600 men killed compared with between 200 and 300 Swedes, but the battle was a strategic victory for the Russians because Greig had done enough to prevent the Swedish landing.
[edit] The rival fleets
[edit] Sweden
- 15 × ships of the line
- 7 × frigates
(1 180 guns)
[edit] Russia
- 1 × 100-gun threedecker - Rostislav
- 8 × 74-gun ships - Vseslav, Mecheslav, Rodislav, Mstislav, Vladislav
- 8 × 66-gun ships
- 7 × big frigates
(1 236 guns)
[edit] 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).
