The Nordic Wars - Kronan

Hello, and welcome to yet another post in the topic of the great nordic wars. This time: Kronan.

Kronan ("The Crown") was a enormous Swedish battleship with over 100 guns, built in the 1672. It was the great pride of the Swedish navy - the biggest ship in Scandinavia, number four in the world! As Sweden and Denmark was the rivals at the time, Sweden wanted to break the Danish naval supremacy. Usually, the Danes had a great navy, while the Swedes had a great army. As an army can't cross water, which a Swede had to in order to reach Copenhagen, all the Swedes had to do was break the Danish navy, and victory was theirs! And Kronan was set to do so. But...

The ship was gigantic, but the crew unskilled and officers primarily taken from land warfare. The Danish crew was the pride of their nation. Just like today, material supremacy only can't let you win. But the Swedes had to try, and try they did. In the Scandinavian war of 1675-79, at the battle of Öland in the Baltic sea, 1676.


The Danish navy gets the upper hand by getting the wind in their backs and scares away the Swedish navy, following them. The unskilled Swedish main admiral Lorentz Creutz keeps fleeing until better conditions for a fight can be found, as the Danes surely couldn't be beaten if they had the wind too! The Swedes set sails, too many sails, to get away, as the winds are powerful and tears in the sails and masts. The admiral is baffled when some of his ships turns around to engage the Danes, despite the admiral's orders. Creutz swears, as he have to choose between:
-Keep sailing, knowing the ships that turned probably will be lost
-Turn the entire fleet around, and starting the battle in complete disorder
Creutz swears again and orders the fleet to turn around. The cannons are locked and loaded, as Kronan turns around. The reckless sailing causes the ship to heel drastically, and is taking water through the open cannon ports. As gunpowder and lit fuses rumble around in the heeling ship, it takes fire and explodes. Nearly 10% of the Swedish navy crew, its admiral and greatest ship is all gone. The Swedes additionally loses several ships, and the Danes win decisively with only minor casualties. After another Danish victory in the battle of Køge Bugt later in this war, the Danish naval supremacy is secured, and it lasts all the way to 1807, when the once-great Danish navy is robbed by Great Britain. (See the 1814 - pt.1 post)

Please correct me if some dates, numbers or facts are incorrect.


Vavva