Svärdet
Encyclopedia
Svärdet was a Swedish
warship that sank on 1 June 1676 at the Battle of Öland
during the Scanian War
under the command of Claes Uggla
. Svärdet was surrounded early in the battle, and fought for two hours until her main mast was destroyed and the ship surrendered. Before the surrounding enemies could board Svärdet, a Dutch fireship accidentally set her ablaze. The fire eventually reached the gunpowder store, which set off an explosion that sank the ship. Only about 50 of a crew of nearly 650 men survived.
On 15 November 2011, it was announced that a wreck believed to be Svärdet had been found by divers off the island coast of Öland
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Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
warship that sank on 1 June 1676 at the Battle of Öland
Battle of Öland
The battle of Öland was a naval battle between an allied Dano-Norwegian-Dutch fleet and the Swedish navy in the Baltic Sea off the east coast of the island of Öland on 1 June 1676. The battle was a part of the Scanian War that was fought for supremacy over the southern Baltic...
during the Scanian War
Scanian War
The Scanian War was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark-Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish provinces along the border with Sweden and in Northern Germany...
under the command of Claes Uggla
Claes Uggla
Claes Uggla was a Swedish Admiral of the 17th century.After serving as a soldier in the Thirty Years' War, in 1644 he entered the Navy, and served with distinction against the Dutch in the battle of Øresund in 1658...
. Svärdet was surrounded early in the battle, and fought for two hours until her main mast was destroyed and the ship surrendered. Before the surrounding enemies could board Svärdet, a Dutch fireship accidentally set her ablaze. The fire eventually reached the gunpowder store, which set off an explosion that sank the ship. Only about 50 of a crew of nearly 650 men survived.
On 15 November 2011, it was announced that a wreck believed to be Svärdet had been found by divers off the island coast of Öland
Öland
' is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. The island has 25,000 inhabitants, but during Swedish Midsummer it is visited by up to 500,000 people...
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General characteristics
- Displacement: 1700 tonnes
- Length: 47.5 meters
- Width: 12.5 meters
- Armament: 86 cannons
- 12 36-pounders (lower gun deck)
- 4 30-pounders (lower gun deck)
- 14 24-pounders (lower gun deck)
- 26 12-pounders (upper gun deck)
- 4 8-pounders (upper gun deck)
- 20 8-pounders (weather deck)
- 6 3-pounders (weather deck)
- Crew: 650 (both sailors and soldiers)