Naval battles in the Greifswalder Bodden (1715)

Naval battles in the Greifswalder Bodden (1715)

Part of: Great Northern War

Contemporary battle map, shows the entrance of the Greifswalder Bodden , in the south of Usedom , in the north-west of Rügen

date	September 1715 to September 25, 1715
place	Greifswalder Bodden (in front of Rügen ), Swedish Pomerania
output	Danish victory
consequences	Danish control of the Greifswald Bodden

Parties to the conflict
Sweden	Denmark
Commander
Captain Paul Cronhawen (also "Unbehawen")	Christian Thomesen Sehested
Troop strength
nine frigates three galleons various other war vehicles	approx. two dozen warships ( Prahme , galleot )
losses
1st battle: 72 dead on the flagship 2nd battle: three ships	1st battle:? 2nd battle: 40 dead and wounded

In the sea ​​battles in Greifswalder Bodden in September 1715 during the Pomeranian campaign of 1715/1716 in the Great Northern War , a Danish flotilla under Sehested defeated two Swedish flotillas near Rügen . The battles served to further encircle the besieged Stralsund by interrupting the sea routes and preparing an Allied landing on Rügen .

prehistory

Swedish Pomerania was the last Swedish possession outside the motherland in 1715 and has been continuously attacked by the Allies since 1711. In the war year 1715 an allied army tried to conquer Stralsund , the main fortress of Swedish Pomerania, for the third time . The conquest of Rügen was a precondition for taking Stralsund. For this, in turn, the command of the sea around Rügen was a prerequisite for carrying out an Allied landing operation. The landing of the Allied army on Rügen was to take place on the southeast coast of Rügen in the Greifswalder Bodden , which was still under Swedish control.

Access from the open Baltic Sea to the Greifswalder Bodden is only possible for larger ships by bypassing the Greifswalder Boddenrandschwelle , an extensive shoal with the islands of Ruden and Greifswalder Oie . Since the fairway of the Landtief used today did not exist at that time, access was either via the Osttief (also Ostertief, Altes Tief) between the Ruden and the Ostplatte near Peenemünde , covered by the Peenemünder Schanze and the fortified log cabin on the Ruden, or through the today silted up Westtief (also Westertief, Neues Tief) between the Ruden and the Mönchgut , covered both by a battery position from Thiessow and from the island of Ruden.

To prevent the Allies from landing on Rügen, in July 1715 , Swedish naval units sank 20 smaller ships and fishing boats loaded with ballast stones across the two routes over a length of 980 meters as an artificial barrier at a distance of 40 to 60 meters to the bottom the Baltic Sea, which is only a few meters deep here. The entry into the Greifswalder Bodden, which was already difficult with the shallow water, was now even more narrowed by the sunk ships. In order to achieve a complete closure of the bay, Karl XII. fortify the Peenemünder Schanze , located on the northwestern tip of Usedom, and the small island of Ruden off the Peenemünde estuary and occupy them with strong garrisons.

Meanwhile, a Danish flotilla under Vice-Admiral Sehested , consisting of flat- going pramers and galleons , arrived at Greifswalder Oie . The subsequent Danish attempt to break through the island of Ruden was thwarted by a Swedish squadron of eight warships, which was moored at Ruden. After a 22 battleships strong Swedish navy had reached the waters, the Danish Admiral Sehested was forced on July 21 to escape into the shallow waters off the coast of Usedom and the Vinetariff to anchor to get out to request from there for help.

In addition, some flat-moving Swedish warships had penetrated the Stettiner Haff and crossed in front of the Oder estuary. In doing so, they ventured into the vicinity of Stettin . But the tide turned when the Danish navy, which had meanwhile arrived, defeated the Swedish navy in the naval battle of Jasmund (1715) off Rügen. This broke Sweden's sea power. The fleet had to withdraw permanently to Karlskrona . The situation of the Swedes continued to deteriorate after storming the Peenemünder Schanze . Only the smaller Swedish flotilla still cruised in the Greifswalder Bodden. As a further consequence, Sehested's flotilla, locked up near Usedom, was released again.

Naval battle in front of Szczecin

Sehested's flotilla was now able to go on the offensive again. Until then, his flotilla had been anchored on the northeast coast of Usedom. The Swedes blocked the access to the Greifswalder Bodden with eight ships between the islands of Ruden and Rügen. Seven Swedish frigates were anchored off Szczecin and blocked the city from the sea. Sehested decided to attack the flotilla off Szczecin first. He sent the smaller boats through the Swine to the Szczecin harbor. The first attack was repulsed after six hours of fighting.

But after more Danish ships reached the port of Szczecin, the Swedish ships withdrew. Their only way of retreat was the ship passage between Usedom and the mainland, the Peene River . There they had to pass enemy batteries and at the northern end of the island the Sehested flotilla was waiting for them. The flagship of the Swedes lost 72 of the 120 crew members. Nevertheless, they reached the Greifswalder Bodden and united with the Swedish flotilla at Neuer Tief (Westtief).

Sea battle in the Greifswalder Bodden

The Swedes now had nine frigates and three galleons as well as various smaller boats that were anchored in the Greifswalder Bodden. Eight frigates, each with 30 cannons, anchored along a chain across the entrance to the Neuer Tief. The other ships were behind.

Sehested's flotilla was reinforced with the Prahm Hjaelper (46 cannons) and three galleys (7 cannons each) from Norway . On September 17, 1715, Sehested's flotilla left its position near Usedom and approached the Swedish flotilla. On September 25, 1715, Danish naval forces under Vice Admiral Sehested attacked the lock in the New Deep. Due to the betrayal of a pilot who was formerly in the Swedish service , the Danish ships managed to break through the lock and enter the Greifswalder Bodden. The action lasted from daybreak to noon. Then the Swedes withdrew. Paul Cronhawen sought protection under the Rudens cannons with ten ships, while the Swede Theodor Christophers (later Theodor Ankarcrona) sailed with the other three ships to "Iserhoft" ( Thiessower Hövt or Südperd) on the southeast coast of Rügen. He was pursued by the Danes and was forced to burn the ships. The Danes lost a total of 40 men in the battle.

consequences

Due to the Danish victories in the sea battles and the conquest of Usedom at the end of August, the siege artillery planned for Stralsund could be moved from Stettin through the Peene to Anklam and the island of Rügen could be conquered.

Others

As part of the construction of the Nord Stream Pipeline , many of the shipwrecks of the ship lock built by the Swedes in 1715 were rediscovered and made accessible again for underwater archeology.

literature

• Johann Gustav Droysen: History of Prussian Politics, 2nd edition, 4th part, Leipzig 1872
• RC Anderson: Naval Wars in the Baltic. London, 1910
• Joachim Krüger : The importance of the naval war in the Greifswalder Bodden for the siege of Stralsund in 1715 . In: POMMERCE. Journal for Culture and History, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1, Lübeck-Travemünde 2001, pp. 2–7, numer. Fig., Note, sources, lit., ISSN 0032-4167

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Frank Thadeusz: ARCHEOLOGY: Chest full of valuables . In: Der Spiegel . No. 28 , 2010 ( online ).