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Battle of Hogland
Part of Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790)
Date July 17 (July 6 OS), 1788 Location Near Hogland Island, Gulf of Finland Result Tactically indecisive; Russian strategic victory
Combatants
Sweden	Russia
Commanders
Prince Karl, Duke of Södermanland	Samuel Greig
Strength
15 ships of the line	17 ships of the line

Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790)
Hogland – Kvistrum Bridge – Öland – 1st Svensksund – Reval – Kronstadt – Vyborg Bay – 2nd Svensksund

The naval Battle of Hogland took place on 17 July (July 6 OS) 1788 during the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790).

Contents 1 Origins 2 Battle 3 Aftermath 4 The rival fleets 4.1 Sweden 4.2 Russia 5 Sources & References 6 External links

On the outbreak of war with Russia in 1788, Sweden planned to attack the Russian capital St. Petersburg. One Swedish army was to advance through Finland; a second army, accompanied by the Swedish coastal flotilla, was to advance along the Finnish coast into the Gulf of Finland; while a third army sailed with the Swedish battlefleet in order to land at Oranienbaum to advance on St. Petersburg. To succeed, the Russian Baltic Fleet had to be eliminated or blockaded in its ports at Reval (now Tallinn) and Kronstadt.

In early July, the Swedish battlefleet of 15 ships of the line sailed into the Gulf of Finland. A hastily assembled Russian fleet of 17 ships of the line under Admiral Samuel Greig met the Swedish fleet off Hogland Island on July 17, 1788.

The two fleets were fairly evenly matched, but while Greig was an experienced commander, Duke Karl seems to spent much of the battle in his cabin. Duke Karl’s flagship was forced out of the line, shrouded in smoke. Greig’s flagship, the 100-gun Rostislav then attacked the 70-gun Prins Gustav, commanded by Vice-Admiral Gustav Wachtmeister, which was forced to surrender. Elsewhere, the Swedes disabled the 74-gun Vladislav, which lost its steering and was then surrounded by Swedish vessels before surrendering to the 62-gun Kronprins Gustav Adolf. The fighting continued for six hours, and the fleets only separated after dark with the Swedish ships beginning to run out of ammunition.

Unusually for a naval battle, both sides captured one ship. The Russians suffered the worst casualties, losing about 600 men killed compared with between 200 and 300 Swedes, but the battle was a strategic victory for the Russians because Greig had done enough to prevent the Swedish landing.

• 15 × ships of the line
• 7 × frigates

(1 180 guns)

• 1 × 100-gun threedecker - Rostislav
• 8 × 74-gun ships - Vseslav, Mecheslav, Rodislav, Mstislav, Vladislav
• 8 × 66-gun ships
• 7 × big frigates

(1 236 guns)

• Anderson, R.C. Naval Wars in the Baltic, 1522–1850 (London, 1969)
• Derry, T.K. 'Scandinavia' in The New Cambridge Modern History, Volume IX (Cambridge, 1965).

• From Hogland to Barezund in History of Russian Navy
• The Swedish Navy 1788–1809