Battle of Dynekilen

Battle of Dynekilen
Part of the Great Northern War

Battle of Dynekilen
Date8 July 1716
LocationDynekilen fjord, north of Strömstad
Result Danish-Norwegian victory
Belligerents
Swedish Empire Denmark-Norway
Commanders and leaders
Olof Strömstierna Peter Tordenskjold
Strength
15+ ships 6 ships
Casualties and losses
? 76

The naval Battle of Dynekilen (Slaget ved Dynekilen) took place on 8 July 1716 during the Great Northern War.

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.[1]

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.

Ships involved

Denmark-Norway (Tordenskjold)

Sweden

All according to Tordenskiolds own report. (printed at pages 229- 230, in the book, "Tordenskiolds Brev" (by Komandor, Olav Bergersen 1963)

References

  1. ↑ Feldborg, Andreas Andersen (1807). Great and good deeds of Danes, Norwegians, and Holsteinians, collected by O. Malling, and tr. by the author of A tour in Zealand. Danske. p. 170.

Sources

Coordinates: 59°00′30″N 11°13′18″E / 59.00833°N 11.22167°E