alternatehistory.com

Something Fishy Going On

Swedish merchant ships attempting to resupply the Swedish forces in Stettin and Pomerania had been harassed by private craft during the early spring. This resulted in 3 merchant ships captured. While Great Britain would dare not admit such the Swedish court suspected their involvement. These three craft and their cargo would remain a sticking point on future grievances. The privateers while desiring to sell their prizes in England knew no such sales would be made, just for the sake of avoiding appearances. The Netherlands when getting word of the attempt to sell such prizes at their docks disallowed the transactions. Denmark however was willing to look the other way or perhaps legitimately weren’t aware of the transactions that took place at their docks. A fourth, Russian merchant ship had also been captured, but the privateers had been unaware it was a Russian ship, or perhaps they were disregarding their instructions to only harass the Swedish. The fate of this ship became unknown to historians, but it was believed to have run aground and been burnt.

The Russian and to a lesser degree, the Swedish response to these attacks ultimately resulting in the sinking of 3 of the privateer vessels with all hands and the capture of a fourth by a Russian ship. The reaction of the Russian court when this was discovered was one of great anger. Again the Russians strongly suspected British involvement which they denied. Some hawkish members of court called for an official declaration of war against Great Britain, but cooler heads prevailed.

After this defeat; and the accusations being brought forth the following summer, no more ‘private adventurers’ harassed the fleets in the Baltic.

2nd Siege of Stettin and the Battle of Oder Lagoon

It took over a month for Fredrick to reorganize his forces to prepare to retake Stettin from the Swedes. He had discovered though that the Swedes had reinforced their garrison with additional men and artillery from their Navy and control of the islands north. What small hastily commandeered navy Prussia had would attempt to assist as Fredrick bombarded the fortress from land and laid siege to the city. Fredrick began the siege on April 18th, attempting to recapture the city with 26,000 regular troops and 4000 irregular and freshly recruited, largely untrained forces. The Swedish forces numbered 16,000 and about 2000 fresh arrivals and were led by Count von Rosen, who had recently replaced Ungern-Sternberg.

Fredrick had ordered the creation of a navy; if you could call it such, prior to setting off to meet the Russian’s in battle. It was really just many commandeered fishing vessels outfitted with light cannon or riverine vessels and barges from the Oder. By the time he was prepared to besiege the Swedes, he had about 22 small craft to patrol the Oder River and the lagoon.

Of course he wasn’t alone in the lagoon. Vessels from the Swedish navy were there as well, but Fredrick had waited for a fair portion of them to depart before commencing the siege and assault on Stettin.

When the siege and assault commenced; the Swedish vessels that had remained moved to engage the Prussian vessels as they exited the mouth of the Oder. The skirmishes on the lagoon were frequently one sided, but served to distract the Swedish vessels from proving full support for the fortress.

On the first day of the assault Fredrick’s forces took the area around the town of Stettin, gaining what supplies they could, but not the critically important fortress that the Swedes were quite secure in. A few days later, Fredrick had the misfortune of witnessing the arrival of a Russian ship of the line and several smaller supporting vessels. In short order what was left of the makeshift the Prussian navy was utterly destroyed. The Russian squadron had arrived expecting to meet and supply Russian forces that had met up with the Swedes, but apparent had set sail before learning of Fredrick’s victory at Thorn.

Despite trying for three weeks, Fredrick could not dislodge the Swedes from Stettin, and it was becoming ever more obvious the siege would be ineffective while the defenders could so easily be supplied by sea. When word finally reached him of events happening south in Silesia, he was forced to take the majority of his army to face the Austrians again. He left just enough behind with Lehwaldt to keep the Swedes hemmed in to prevent them from moving any further south. Count von Rosen was content to remain in Stettin, keeping control over what Sweden had gained without taking any further risks.

Battle Results:
Prussian Forces: 2000 dead and wounded, Prussian ‘navy’ destroyed.
Swedish Forces: 1400 dead and wounded