The naval Battle of Reval took place on 13 May 1790 (2 May OS) during the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790), off the port of Reval (now

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

Origins

Undaunted by the Swedish defeats and failures during 1789, the Swedish king,

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

sent the battle fleet under his brother Prince Karl, Duke of Södermanland, to eliminate Admiral Chichagov's Russian squadron, which had wintered in the harbor at Reval. General-Admiral Duke Karl approached Reval with 26

ships of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

and large

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...

s mounting a combined 1,680 cannon. Chichagov, preparing to meet the enemy in the harbour, formed a battle line made up of 9

and the

''Venus''.

Battle

The Russian fleet (9 ships of the line, 5 frigates) was anchored in a line going from Reval

harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

towards the

Viimsi Viimsi (german: Wiems) is a small borough ( et, alevik) in Harju County, Estonia, about northeast of the centre of Tallinn, just north of Tallinn's subdistrict Merivälja. Viimsi is the administrative centre of Viimsi Parish. As of the 2011 c ...

(Wims) peninsula. The first line consisted of nine ships of the line and frigates (the 100-gun battleships ''Rostislav'' and ''Saratov'', 74-gun ''Kir Ioann'', ''Mstislav'', ''Sv. Yelena'' and ''Yaroslav'', 66-gun ''Pobedonosets'', ''Boleslav'' and ''Izyaslav'' and the 40-gun frigate ''Venus''). In the second line, four frigates - ''Podrazhislav'' (32 guns), ''Slava'' (32), ''Nadezhda Blagopoluchiya'' (32) and ''Pryamislav'' (36). Two bomb-vessels were deployed on the flanks. The third line was composed of seven launches. The Swedish fleet under the command of General-Admiral Duke Karl of

Södermanland Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västm ...

consisted of 22

, four

s and four smaller vessels. It entered the harbour and started passing by the anchored Russian ships. Due to strong winds and inaccurate aiming, most Swedish

projectile A projectile is an object that is propelled by the application of an external force and then moves freely under the influence of gravity and air resistance. Although any objects in motion through space are projectiles, they are commonly found i ...

s ricocheted past their targets, while the Russian ships that were anchored within the protected area of the harbour were able to use their guns much more effectively. The ship of the Swedish General-Admiral, which could not be brought into the wind due to a rigging problem, was forced to drift towards ''Rostislav'' and received major damage from

grapeshot Grapeshot is a type of artillery round invented by a British Officer during the Napoleonic Wars. It was used mainly as an anti infantry round, but had other uses in naval combat. In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of ammunition that consists of ...

. The 64-gun battleship ''Prins Karl'', fifteenth the Swedish line, lost her

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

to Russian fire and had to strike her colours. The Duke of Södermanland directed the battle from the frigate ''Ulla Fersen'', beyond the range of Russian fire. After a two-hour

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...

duel he ordered his ships to break off the engagement; hence the last ten ships of Swedish line veered off without firing a shot. The Swedish ship ''Riksens Ständer'' hit the

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes—deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock ...

north of

Aegna Aegna is an Estonian island in the Bay of Tallinn in the Baltic Sea. Administratively it is part of the city of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia and is a sub district of the Kesklinn (City center) district. Geography Aegna island has an ...

(Wolf) island. Swedish attempts to dislodge her failed, and the Swedes were forced to burn her so that the Russians would be unable to take her.

Aftermath

The Battle of Reval was a resounding Russian victory. The Swedes lost two ships of the line, and were forced to retreat despite their almost twofold numerical superiority. Swedish losses were 51 killed, 81 wounded, and 250 captured. Russian losses were 8 killed and 27 injured. Contemporary sources reported Russian casualties of 4 killed, 7 seriously and 18 lightly wounded, with almost 400 Swedish sailors, soldiers and officers captured and presumably 130 killed. After the battle the Swedish fleet partially repaired at the sea, and then sailed away east of Hogland Island.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of Reval

Reval Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ''m ...

Revel 1790 Reval, Battle of

Origins

Battle

Aftermath

See also

References