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Battle of Hogland
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{{Infobox Military Conflict
|image=
|caption=
|conflict=Battle of Hogland
|partof=
Russo-Swedish War
|date=
July 17 (
July 6 Julian calendar OS),
1788
|place=Near Hogland Island,
Baltic Sea
|result=Tactically indecisive; Russian strategic victory
|combatant1=
Sweden
|combatant2=
Russia
|commander1=
Charles XIII of Sweden Prince Karl, Duke of Södermanland
|commander2=
Samuel Greig (1735-1788) Samuel Greig
|strength1=15 ships of the line
|strength2=17 ships of the line
|casualties1=
|casualties2=
}}
The naval '''Battle of Hogland''' took place on
17 July (
July 6 Julian calendar OS)
1788 during the
Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790).
Origins
{{Campaignbox Russo-Swedish War}}
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 Orainenbaum to advance on St. Petersburg. To succeed, the Russian 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.
Battle
The two fleets were fairly evenly matched, but while Greig was an experienced commander, Duke Karl seems to 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.
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.
The rival fleets
Sweden
Russia
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).
External links
-
From Hogland to Barezund in [http://www.neva.ru/EXPO96/book/book-cont.html History of Russian Navy]
-
The Swedish Navy 1788–1809
Category:1788
Category:Battles of Sweden Hogland
Category:Battles of Russia Hogland
Category:Naval battles Hogland
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