Hans Wachtmeister af Johannishus, ( – ) was admiral general of the Swedish Navy and advisor to King Charles XI of Sweden and King Charles XII of Sweden. He served in the Scanian War of 1675–1679 and during the following twenty years of peace worked to build up the Swedish Navy. When the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...

began in 1700 he was able to take his fleet to sea in good condition. He was governor of

Kalmar län Kalmar County () is a county or ''län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg, Jönköping, Blekinge and Östergötland. To the east in the Baltic Sea is the island Gotland. The counties are mainly administrative units. Geogr ...

between 1680 and 1683. When the new fleet base was established at Karlskrona in 1681, he became governor of a new enlarged county,

Kalmar Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...

and

Blekinge län Blekinge County ( sv, Blekinge län) is a county or ''län'' in the south of Sweden. It borders the Counties of Skåne, Kronoberg, Kalmar and the Baltic Sea. The capital is Karlskrona. It is the smallest of the present administrative counties of ...

. Hans Wachtmeister was also admiral general over the entire Swedish Fleet at the same time that he was a governor. In 1681–1683, he took the additional title of ''ståthållare'' or stadtholder. He was raised to the dignity of a count in 1687 with the name of Wachtmeister af Johannishus and introduced in the Swedish House of Nobility in 1689 as number 25 among the families with the title of count revliga ätterin the

List of Swedish noble families This is a list of Swedish noble families, which are divided into two main groups: * Introduced nobility, i.e. noble families introduced at the Swedish House of Nobility * Unintroduced nobility, i.e. noble families which have not been introduced at ...

. His younger brother was Swedish field marshal Axel Wachtmeister, and his father-in-law was

Rutger von Ascheberg Count Rutger von Ascheberg (2 June 1621 – 17 April 1693), also known as Roger von Ascheberg was a soldier, officer and civil servant in Swedish service, being appointed Lieutenant General in 1670, General in 1674, Field Marshal in 1678, Gover ...

Sources

*Sven Grauers, ''Ätten Wachtmeister genom Tiderna'' (1942)
Hans Wachtmeister
Historiesajten {{DEFAULTSORT:Wachtmeister Af Johannishus, Hans 1641 births 1714 deaths Swedish admirals 17th-century Swedish nobility Swedish people of German descent 17th-century Swedish military personnel Swedish military personnel of the Great Northern War