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Battle of Ruotsinsalmi

Second Battle of Svensksund / Rochensalm / Ruotsinsalmi
Part of the Russo-Swedish War (1788–90)
Johan Tietrich Schoultz målning Slaget vid Svensksund.jpg
The battle as depicted by Swedish painter Johan Tietrich Schoultz
Date 9–10 July 1790 (28–29 June OS)
Location Svensksund, (now Kotka south-eastern Finland)
Result Decisive Swedish victory
Belligerents
 Sweden  Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Gustav III of Sweden
Carl Olof Cronstedt
Charles of Nassau-Siegen
Strength
14,000 men,
275 ships,
450 cannons
18,500 men,
200–274 ships,
900 cannons
Casualties and losses
600–700 killed and wounded,
6 ships
c. 10,000 killed, wounded and captured,
50–80 ships

The Battle of Svensksund (Finnish: Ruotsinsalmi, Russian: Rochensalm) was a naval battle fought in the Gulf of Finland outside the present day city of Kotka on 9 and 10 July 1790. The Swedish naval forces dealt the Russian fleet a devastating defeat that resulted in an end to the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90. The battle is the biggest Swedish naval victory and the largest naval battle ever in the Baltic Sea.

Circumstances in the 1780s, including the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, and the moving of a portion of the Russian Baltic Fleet to the Black Sea, prompted the Swedish king, Gustav III, to attack the Russian Empire in 1788. The war was also initiated to distract domestic attention from political problems and for Gustav III to be able to fulfill his role as a successful and powerful monarch.

Gustav's main aim was to recapture some of the territory in Finland that had been lost to the Russians in the war of 1741–43. In 1788, he launched a surprise attack against the Russian fleet, intending to catch it by surprise. The plan was to attack Kronstadt and land a force to assault the capital of St Petersburg.

The war was intended to be short and to be won by the assault on St Petersburg, conducted by the navy and skärgårdsflottan (the "archipelago navy"). The latter, officially designated as arméns flotta ("navy of the army") was a separate branch of the armed forces designed for coastal operations and amphibious warfare in the Baltic. Since its formation in 1756, it had been something of an elite force within the Swedish armed forces. However, after the Battle of Hogland (1788) (a tactical tie but a strategic failure for the Swedes) Gustav lost the initiative and tensions in Sweden rose. The first battle of Svensksund on 24 August 1789 ended in a Swedish defeat.


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