Brawl In The Baltic Sea: The Battle of Svensksund
Featuring over 500 ships
In 1788, Sweden and Russia went to war for amorphous reasons. King Gustav III of Sweden, hoping to use the war to rally support at home, attacked Russia. A fight with Russia would make the crown look strong, and a victory could even secure important sites such as the city of Saint Petersburg. Empress Catherine II found the war a distraction, but she put numerous Russian forces on alert. It would quickly become apparent that Gustav III underestimated Catherine and her will to hold out against Swedish incursions.
The war, dubbed the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790 (one of many such conflicts), was a massive stalemate. Neither side could gain traction on the ground, and Gustav III realized that attacking any of Russia’s important cities was beyond the scope of his abilities. Instead, the war mainly focused on the sea, where large naval groups prowled around, looking for lonely prey and vulnerable island forts to bombard.
In the midst of this small and forgotten war came one of the most interesting battles of the era. At the end of the conflict, in 1790, two massive navies clashed on the Baltic Sea. It was the largest naval battle ever conducted in the Baltic and featured over 500 ships. It would be a climactic and decisive finish to a largely anticlimactic and indecisive…
