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The battle of Bornholm was a naval battle between a superior Swedish and a smaller Danish-Dutch fleet that was fought 25–26 May 1676 as a part of the Scanian War. The objective for both sides was naval supremacy in the southern Baltic Sea. The Swedish commander Lorentz Creutz sought to destroy the allied fleet and then land reinforcements in Swedish Pomerania to relieve the Swedish forces in northern Germany. The aim of the Danish fleet under Niels Juel was to prevent this reinforcement without being destroyed by the superior numbers of the Swedish forces. The Danish navy managed to put to sea by March and conquered the Swedish island of Gotland before the Swedish fleet even managed to get out of its base in Stockholm. The two fleets sighted each other on the morning of 25 May and by night came within firing range of one another, near the Jasmund Peninsula off the northeast corner of Rügen. Darkness put an end to the battle after both forces had turned north. Fighting was resumed on the morning of the 26th and went on with both fleets formed in lines of battle, without any attempts at forcing boarding actions. In the afternoon Juel broke off for Øresund (the strait between Sweden and Denmark), where the allied fleet anchored in the shoals of Falsterborev (Falsterbo reef), off the Scanian coast. Creutz did not dare pursue and anchored off Trelleborg to receive instructions from Swedish King Charles XI. The Swedish force lost three small vessels, an insignificant loss tactically, but the allied fleet still won a strategic victory. Juel's force, though somewhat battered, was nevertheless intact and was reinforced two days later with an additional nine ships along with the experienced Dutch admiral Cornelis Tromp, who took over the command. The inability to force a decisive action against the allied fleet sparked a row between Creutz and his officers, severely crippling Swedish discipline and cohesion. Only a few days after the battle of Bornholm, on June 1, the Swedish fleet suffered a serious defeat at the battle of Öland and lost control of the Baltic for the rest of the year. == Background == (詳細はBrandenburg at the request of its ally, France, at the time the dominant great power in Europe. This sparked a declaration of war by the Dutch Republic which was at war with France since 1672 in the Franco-Dutch War. After a minor defeat against Brandenburg forces at the battle of Fehrbellin on 18 June 1675, several North German states and the Holy Roman Emperor joined the war against Sweden. Denmark saw in this an opportunity to regain the provinces of Scania, Blekinge and Halland, lost to Sweden under humiliating circumstances in 1660, and declared war on 2 September. The southern Baltic Sea now became a strategically vital area to both sides; Denmark needed the sea lanes to invade the Swedish mainland while Sweden needed them to reinforce their hard-pressed armies in Pomerania; both needed to secure their maritime trade routes.〔Finn Askgaard, "Kampen till sjöss" i Rystad (2005), s. 171〕 During 1675 the Swedish fleet under Gustaf Otto Stenbock put to sea, but only got as far as Stora Karslö off Gotland before it had turn back to Stockholm beset by cold and stormy weather, disease and loss of vital equipment. Stenbock was held personally responsible for the failure by King Charles XI and was forced to reimburse the cost of the campaign out of his own pocket. The winter of 1675-76, the Swedish fleet was placed under the command of Lorentz Creutz, but was iced in by an exceptionally harsh winter.〔Finn Askgaard, "Kampen till sjöss" in Rystad (2005), p. 171〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Bornholm (1676)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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