Battle of Reval

This article is about the 1790 battle. For the 1602 battle, seeBattle of Reval (1602).

The navalBattle of Revaltook place on 13 May [O.S.2 May] 1790 during theRusso-Swedish War (1788–1790),off theport of Revalin theroadstead(nowTallinn,Estonia). This battle ended in an imposingImperial Russian Navy's victory; it has been compared to the practice ofrunning the gauntlet.

Battle of Reval
Part of theRusso-Swedish War (1788–90)
The Battle of Reval,Ivan Aivazovsky
Date 13 May 1790 Location OffReval;Revel Roadstead,Gulf of Finland,Baltic Sea 59°30′N24°45′E Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Russia Imperial Russian Navy	Sweden Swedish Navy
Commanders and leaders
Vasily Chichagov	Prince Charles
Strength
10 ships of the line, 5 frigates, 2 bomb vessels, 7 cutters	22 ships of the line, 4 frigates, 4 smaller ships
Casualties and losses
8 killed & 27 wounded	~150–200 dead, wounded or missing • 130 to 150 killed or:51 dead and ~80 wounded. 1 ship of the line captured: • ~400 to 600 captured seamen and army personnel on it; • or incl. as few as 250 men captured. 1 ship of the line destroyed 5 ships heavily damaged 40 to 42 cannons lost

Origins

Undaunted by the Swedish defeats and failures during 1789, the Swedish king,Gustav IIIsent the battle fleet under his brotherPrince Karl, Duke of Södermanland,to eliminateAdmiral Chichagov's Russiansquadron,which had wintered in theharborat Reval.

General-AdmiralDuke Karl ofSödermanlandapproached Reval with 26ships of the lineand largefrigatesmounting a combined 1,680 cannon. Chichagov, preparing to meet the enemy in the harbour, formed a battle line made up of 9 ships of the line and the frigateVenus.

Battle

The Russian fleet (10 ships of the line, 5 frigates) was anchored in a line going from Reval harbour towards theViimsi(Wims) peninsula. The first line consisted of nine ships of the line and frigates, i.e. the 100-gun battleshipsRostislav(flagship of admiralVasili Chichagov,captained by his sonPavel Chichagov)andSaratov(flagship ofvice admiralAlexey Vasilyevich Musin-Pushkin, captained by Nikolai Barsch),the 74-gun ships of the lineKir Ioann,Mstislav,Sv. Elena(flagship of contre-admiralPyotr Khanykov,captained byCarl Magnus von Breyer)andYaroslav,the 66-gun ships of the linePobedonosets,BoleslavandIzyaslavand the 40-gun frigateVenus(captained byRobert Crown).In the second line, four frigates -Podrazhislav(32 guns),Slava(32),Nadezhda Blagopoluchiya(32) andPryamislav(36). Twobomb-vesselswere deployed on the flanks. The third line was composed of sevencutters.

The Swedish fleet under the command of General-Admiral Duke Karl consisted of 22 ships of the line, four frigates and four smaller vessels. It entered the harbour and started passing by the anchored Russian ships.

Due to strong winds and inaccurate aiming, most Swedishprojectilesricocheted 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 towardsRostislavand received major damage fromgrapeshot.The 64-gun battleshipPrins Karl,fifteenth the Swedish line, lost herrudderto Russian fire and had tostrike her colours.

The Duke of Södermanland directed the battle from the frigateUlla Fersen,beyond the range of Russian fire. After a two-hourartilleryduel 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 shipRiksens Ständerhit thereefnorth ofAegna(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.

• 
  Battle plan. Drawing byJohann Christoph Brotze.
• 
  Battle plan No. 2. By Johann Christoph Brotze.
• 
  Battle of Reval, as depicted byJacob Hägg.Maritime Museum (Stockholm).
• 
  The battle, as depicted in Nordischer Kriegsschauplaz
• 
  The battle, as depicted byAlexey Bogolyubovafter Ivan Aivazovsky's painting
• 
  The battle on thepostage stampwith Bogolyubov's painting

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 more than twofold numerical superiority in line ships. 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 ofHogland Island.

See also

• Reval order of battle

Bibliography

• Tredrea, John; Sozaev, Eduard (2010).Russian Warships in the Age of Sail 1696–1860 – Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.Barnsley:Seaforth Publishing.ISBN978-1-84832-058-1.
• Novikov, Nikolay Vasilyevich(1948).Боевая летопись русского флота[Battle chronicle of the Russian navy] (in Russian). Moscow:Military publishing house of the Ministry of Armed Forces of the Union of SSRs.Retrieved25 August2023.
• Stenzel, Alfred;Kirchhoff, Hermann(2002) [1907–1911]. "Шведско-русская война 1788–1790 гг." [Swedish-Russian war of 1788–1790]. Written atHanover,Province of Hanover,Kingdom of Prussia,German Empire.История войн на море с древнейших времен до конца XIX века[History of wars at sea from ancient times to the end of the nineteenth century].Central Naval Library(in Russian). Vol. 2. Translated by various (revised ed.). Moscow:Eksmo.pp. 444–457.ISBN5-94661-036-8.
  • Original:Seekriegsgeschichte in ihren wichtingsten Abschnitten mit Berucksichtigung der Seetaktik(in German).
• Veselago, Feodosy Fyodorovich(1939).Краткая история русского флота[A Brief History of Russian Navy] (in Russian) (2nd ed.). Moscow,Leningrad:Военмориздат. pp. 139–140.ISBN978-5519440530.Retrieved25 February2024.