Battle of Kronstadt

Battle of Kronstadt
Part of the Russo-Swedish War (1788–90)
The battle as depicted by Russian painter Alexey Bogolyubov
Date 3–4 June 1790 (2 days) Location Gulf of Finland, near Kronstadt 60°04′19″N 29°15′11″E / 60.072°N 29.253°E / 60.072; 29.253Coordinates: 60°04′19″N 29°15′11″E / 60.072°N 29.253°E / 60.072; 29.253 Result Tactically indecisive Strategic Russian victory
Belligerents
Sweden	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Duke Charles of Södermanland	Admiral Alexander Kruse
Strength
22 ships of the line 8 frigates 4 light frigates	17 ships of the line 4 frigates 8 rowing frigates
Casualties and losses
84 killed 281 wounded	89 killed 218 wounded

The Battle of Kronstadt (Russian: Красногорское сражение, lit. 'Battle of Krasnaya Gorka') was a naval battle fought in the Gulf of Finland west of Kronstadt on 3–4 June 1790. The Swedish naval forces sought to engage the Kronstadt squadron of Russian fleet and defeat them both to prevent Russian squadrons from joining together and also to open the sea route to Kronstadt and Saint Petersburg.

Swedish open sea fleet under Duke Charles of Södermanland had failed to inflict defeat to considerably smaller Russian naval squadron located instead suffering losses in the action at Reval and chose to withdraw to Gogland on 25 May 1790 to wait for further instructions. On 29 May King Gustav III ordered the open sea fleet to sail towards Kronstadt in order to protect the coastal fleets flank. Meanwhile, coastal fleets had managed to maul the Russian coastal units at Frederikshamn making it possible for the coastal fleet to continue towards the eastern Gulf of Finland. Coastal fleet continued towards Vyborg while repeatedly raiding the coast finally reaching Beryozovye Islands on 3 June.

Swedish open sea fleet was met by the Russian Kronstadt squadron while approaching Kronstadt on 3 June 1790. The engagement between the two roughly equal strength fleets lasted for four hours without success on either side. Swedish coastal fleet sortied ships to support the open sea fleet but by the time they reached the open sea fleet battle had already ended for the day and since the small coastal vessels were unable to keep up with open sea fleet they had to withdraw back to Beryozovye Islands. Several more clashes were fought between the fleets during the day. Fighting started again on 4 June with even less results than on the previous day. Admiral Kruse apparently had no intention to actually engage the Swedish fleet, only to delay them long enough for the other Russian naval squadrons to reach them. Duke Charles became aware of Russian squadrons approaching from the west and withdraw to north-west with Kruse following close behind and already on 6 June Russian squadrons had managed to link up.

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