Battle of the Sound
1658 CE.
Shown on the map at 55.750°, 12.750°.
The Battle of the Sound was a naval engagement which took place on 8 November 1658 (29 October O.S.) during the Second Northern War, near the Sound or Øresund, just north of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Sweden had invaded Denmark and an army under Charles X Gustav of Sweden had Copenhagen itself under siege. The Dutch fleet was sent to prevent Sweden from gaining control of both sides of the Sound and thereby controlling access to the Baltic Sea as well as of its trade. The Dutch, under the command of Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam with Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer as his flag captain, who had sailed to the Baltic in support of Denmark, had 41 ships with 1,413 guns while the Swedes, under Lord High Admiral Carl Gustaf Wrangel, had 45 ships with 1,838 guns. The Dutch were grouped into three squadrons, while the Swedes separated their ships into four. The seven Danish ships with about 280 guns were unable to assist their Dutch allies because of adverse northern winds and could only watch. Obdam initially received written instructions from the Grand Pensionary, Johan de Witt, that were very complicated and confusing to him.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Sound, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.