Strategic background to the battle

The British imposed a A blockade is an effort usually (but not always, see below) at sea, to prevent supplies from reaching the enemy. A blockade is also the attritional aspect of a siege, with the besiegers preventing food supplies from reaching the besieged. If the siege lasted long enough, defenders and civilians were... blockade on supply lines between The Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country on the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia, with territorial waters bordering Danish and British waters. It has a very elongated form and has an extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean, where Norways famous fjords... Norway and Denmark (disambiguation). The Kingdom of Denmark is geographically the smallest Nordic country and is part of the European Union. It is located in Scandinavia, which is in northern Europe. Denmark borders the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, and consists of a peninsula attached to Northern Germany named Jutland (Jylland... Denmark during the Napoleonic War in the Categories: Sweden geography stubs | Norway geography stubs | Danish stubs ... Skagerrak sound, except for Norwegian ships transporting lumber to Britain. Although this affected the supply of grain to Norway, the Norwegians preferred to limit military operations to coastal defense.

Nevertheless, what was left of the Danish-Norwegian fleet after the The second Battle of Copenhagen, which lasted from 16 August to 5 September 1807, was, like the first battle of Copenhagen, an attack by the British on the Danish capital of Copenhagen. The British government decided to seize the Danish fleet to avoid its ending up in the hands of... Battle of Copenhagen (1807) fleet was committed to breaking the blockade.

Naval tactical background

After years of skirmishes, the Danish-Norwegian fleet was reduced to one major ship, the frigate Najaden was a frigate in the Danish/Norwegian navy. Built in 1811, and carrying 36, later 42 cannons, it was sunk in the Battle at Lyngør in 1812 by the British ship-of-the-line HMS Dictator. External links Fregatten Najaden (in Norwegian) The original report from captain Holm... Najaden 42, finished in Events February 5 - George, Prince of Wales becomes Regent because of the perceived insanity of his father, King George III of the United Kingdom.He is known as the Prince Regent. This is the beginning of the period known as the English Regency. March 1 - Egyptian ruler Mohammed Ali kills... 1811, in part with parts salvaged from a ship-of-the-line destroyed in earlier battles. Eyeing an opportunity to enforce the blockade and break the back of Danish-Norwegian seapower, the British deployed the ship-of-the-line HMS Dictator 64 and three brigs, Calypso, Podargus and Flamer.

Najaden was accompanied by three brigs: Kiel, Lolland and Samsøe.

Steward's Battle Plan

Captain Steward's plan was to chase down Najaden and destroy it, thereby giving Britain supremacy over the trade routes between Norway and Denmark, and effectively ending Danish involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. In a pitched battle, his ship-of-the-line would easily defeat the frigate. As a consequence, Steward was simply looking for a confrontation.

Holm's Battle Plan

Holm never intended to engage the British ships. He relied on his superior knowledge of the local waters to evade Steward's pursuit.

Battle

Battle of Lyngør in Norway This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years or less. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del...

Battle of Lyngør in Norway This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years or less. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del...

Artist's rendition of the Battle of Lyngør

Najaden had anchored near the island of Sandøya near Tvedestrand is a town in the county of Aust-Agder, Norway. It and belongs to the geographical region of Sørlandet. The town itself lies at the end of a picturesque fjord, Oksefjorden (originally Ufsefjorden, meaning the fjord with steep, rocky sides), while the municipality also encompasses the lovely islands... Tvedestrand, where the captain felt secure. His premise was that no British ship would risk running ashore in the unfamiliar and craggy archipelago. He accepted an invitation to dine with the captain of the Samsøe and even went ashore on the island after his meal. From the hills above, he saw that the British ships were inside the archipelago and headed in his direction.

Rushing back to his ships, he ordered the ships along an inner route northeast, toward Lyngør. Podargus led the British chase, apparently with a pilot onboard who was familiar with the waters. Podargus ran aground at Buskskjærsteinen, and Steward ordered the HMS Flamer to stay behind and assist. The British brigs were assaulted by several smaller Danish and Norwegian boats, among them lieutenant Parnemann with the canon caloupe Kiøge Bugt, canon boat No.3 (Ltn Ring), og Digernes batteri, subsequently reinforced also with 4 additional canon boats from the Arendal Division, commanded by Captaine-Lieutenant Dietrichson. Having sustained considerable damage, the British ships were eventually able to join Dictator after the main battle was over.

Najaden went into the narrow sound of Lyngør, leaving behind much of its supporting vessels to fight the British brigs.

Steward, a Scotsman known in the Royal Navy as "Mad Jim", sailed into the sound, threw anchor behind him, and deliberately ran ashore with his broadside perpendicular to the sound. Using its anchor line as leverage, he positioned Dictator to set its broadside against Najaden at 35-40 meters range. Unable to turn, Najaden had its broadside pointing away from the opposing ship and was dead in the water. At about 9:30 pm, the HMS Dictator unleashed a 15-minute barrage against the Danish frigate that amounted to 4 tons of ordinance, breaking its main mast almost immediately and causing a fire on the ship and the Danish brigs anchored nearby. Within 45 minutes, Najaden was sunk with 133 dead and 82 wounded. Holm survived, only to drown in an accident a few months later.

The battle resumed as the Danish gunboats found there way into Lyngør. At 2 am on July 7 is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 177 days remaining. Events 1456 - Joan of Arc is acquitted of heresy (but she had already been executed). 1534 - European colonization of the Americas: First known exchange between Europeans and natives of... July 7, the Dictator was finally pulled off and was chased out of Norwegian waters by Danish gunboats.

Consequences

The battle of Lyngør effectively ended Denmark's involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. In the The Treaty of Kiel, was a settlement between Sweden and Denmark-Norway on January 14, 1814, whereby the Danish king, a loser in the Napoleonic wars, ceded Norway to the king of Sweden, in return for the Swedish holdings in Pomerania. However the treaty signed in Kiel would never come... Treaty of Kiel, Denmark ceded dominion over The Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country on the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia, with territorial waters bordering Danish and British waters. It has a very elongated form and has an extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean, where Norways famous fjords... Norway, setting the stage for Norway's independence movement, which wasn't to be fully realized until 1905. It also freed up British naval resources to fight France's navy in the Napoleonic Wars.

See also

• The Royal Navy is the navy of the United Kingdom. It operates a number of aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, fifteen nuclear submarines, and various other ships, as well as aircraft, and the UKs amphibious force: the Royal Marines. The Royal Navy is the largest navy in Western Europe. Like... British naval supremacy

External links

• Sailing ships of the Royal Navy (http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/D1.HTM)
• Norwegian naval account of the battle (http://www.mil.no/sjo/start/fakta/historie/dagfordag/article.jhtml?articleID=92346)