sfile1881-the battle of copenhagen

8/14/2019 Sfile1881-The Battle of Copenhagen

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The Battle of Copenhagendmiral Lord Nelsons hardest fought battle, against the Danish Fleet and capital city.

War: Napoleonic Wars.

Date: 2nd April 1801.

The Battle of Copenhagen: Nelson's British Fleet sails up the Royal Channel to attack the DanishFleet and the Trekroner Citadel. The 3 British ships aground are to the right: Bellona, Russell andAgamemnon

Place: Off the coast of Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.

Combatants: A British Fleet against the Danish Fleet.

Admirals: Admiral Sir Hyde Parker and Vice Admiral Lord Nelson against the Danish Crown Prince.

Winner: The British Fleet.


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The Battle of Copenhagen: The British Fleet under Lord Nelsonsails up the Royal Channel attacking the Danish Fleet

The Fleets:The British Fleet: Nelsons Division: His Majestys Ships Elephant (Flagship: Captain Foley: 74guns), Russell (Captain Cumming: 74 guns), Bellona (Captain Thompson: 74 guns), Edgar (CaptainMurray: 74 guns), Ganges (Captain Freemantle: 74 guns), Monarch (Captain Moss: 74 guns),Defiance (Rear Admiral Graves and Captain Retalick: 74 guns), Polyphemus (Captain Lawford: 64guns), Ardent (Captain Bertie: 64 guns), Agamemnon (Captain Fancourt: 64 guns), Glatton(Captain William Bligh: 54 guns), Isis (Captain Walker: 50 guns): Frigates: La Desiree (CaptainInman: 40 guns), Amazon (Captain Riou : 38 guns), Blanche (Captain Hammond: 36 guns),Alcimene (Captain Sutton: 32 guns): Sloops: Arrow (Commander Bolton: 30 guns), Dart(Commander Devonshire: 30 guns), Zephyr (Lt Upton: 14 guns), Otter (Lt McKinlay: 14 guns).


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His Majesty's Ship St George

Parkers Division: His Majestys Ships London (Flagship: Captain Domett: 98 guns), St George(Captain Hardy: 98 guns), Warrior (Captain Tyler: 74 guns), Defence (Captain Paulet: 74 guns),Saturn (Captain Lambert: 74 guns), Ramillies (Captain Dixon: 74 guns), Raisonable (Captain Dilkes:

64 guns), Veteran (Captain Dickson: 64 guns).

The Danish Fleet: Dannebroge (Captains Fischer and Braun: 80 guns), Saelland (Captain Harboe:74 guns), Infodstretten (Captain Thura: 64 guns), Holsteen (Captain Ahrenfeldt: 60 guns),Provesteenen (Captain Lassen: 56 guns), Wagrien (Captain Risbrigh: 48 guns), Jylland (CaptainBrandt: 48 guns), Charlotte Amalia (Captain Kofod: 26 guns), Gerner Radeau (Captain Willemoes:24 guns), Kronborg (Captain Hauch: 22 guns), Rendsborg (Captain Egede: 22 guns), Nyborg(Captain Rothe: 20 guns), Svaerdfisken (Captain Sommerfeldt: 20 guns), Hayen (Captain Moller: 20guns), Hjelperen (Captain Lilienskold: 20 guns), Elven (Captain Holstein: 6 guns), and Aggerhus(Captain Fasting: 15 guns).

Lieutenant Willemoes of the Royal Danish Navy fightshis ship Gerner Radeau during the Battle of Copenhagen

In addition the Trekroner Fortress and numerous batteries along the coast.

Ships and Armaments: Sailing warships of the 18th and 19th Century carried their mainarmaments in broadside batteries along the sides. Ships were classified according to the numberof guns carried or the number of decks carrying batteries. The size of gun on the line of battleships was up to 24 pounder, firing heavy iron balls or chain and link shot designed to wreck

rigging. At the Battle of Copenhagen the British ships anchored by the moored Danish Fleet andfired broadsides at a range of a few yards.

Ships manoeuvred to deliver broadsides in the most destructive manner, the greatest effect beingachieved by firing into an enemys stern or bow quarter, so that the shot travelled the length ofthe ship wreaking havoc and destruction. The position of the Danish ships made this difficult andmost of the firing was broadside to broadside. The first discharge, loaded before action began,was always the most effective. To achieve this effect the British ships held their fire untilalongside the Danish ships.


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Ships carried a variety of smaller weapons on the top deck and in the rigging, from swivel gunsfiring grape shot or canister (bags of musket balls) to hand held muskets and pistols, each crewseeking to annihilate the enemy officers and sailors on deck.

Wounds in Eighteenth Century naval fighting were terrible. Cannon balls ripped off limbs or,striking wooden decks and bulwarks, drove splinter fragments across the ship causing horrific

wounds. Falling masts and rigging inflicted crush injuries. Sailors stationed aloft fell into the seafrom collapsing masts and rigging to be drowned. Heavy losses were caused when a ship finallysuccumbed.

A Danish gunboat at the Battle of Copenhagen

Ships crews of all nations were a tough bunch. The British with continual blockade service againstthe French and Spanish were particularly well drilled, British gun crews firing three broadsides ormore to every two fired by other European crews.

British captains were responsible for recruiting their ships crew. Men were taken wherever theycould be found, largely by means of the press gang. All nationalities served on British shipsalthough several ships permitted Danish crewmen to transfer rather than serve against their owncountrymen. Loyalty for a crew lay primarily with their ship. Once the heat of battle subsidedthere was little animosity against the enemy. Great efforts were made by British crews to rescuethe sailors of foundering Danish ships at the end of the battle.

Life on a warship, particularly the large ships of the line, was crowded and hard. Discipline wasenforced with extreme violence, small infractions punished with public lashings. The food, farfrom good, deteriorated as ships spent time at sea. Drinking water was in constant short supplyand usually brackish. Shortage of citrus fruit and fresh vegetables meant that scurvy easily and

quickly set in. The great weight of guns and equipment and the necessity to climb rigging inadverse weather conditions frequently caused serious injury.


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The Battle of Copenhagen

Account:In early 1801 Britain faced a coalition of Northern states, masterminded by France, combined inhostile neutrality against Britain; Russia, Denmark, Sweden and Prussia. The British Admiraltyordered Admiral Sir Hyde Parker with a British fleet to the Baltic, Admiral Lord Nelson as his

second in command, with the purpose of breaking up the confederation.

On 18th March 1801 the British Fleet anchored in the Cattegat, the entrance to the Baltic, anddiplomats set off for Copenhagen.


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Admiral Lord Nelson forcing the entrance to the Sound and entering theBaltic: passing the Danish fortress of Kronborg.

Nelsons plan was that the British Fleet should attack the Russian squadron wintering in Revel, theRussian navy being the strongest and the dominant force in the Baltic. There was not however atrust between commander in chief and subordinate; Parker keeping Nelson at arms length.Negotiation with the Danes particularly exasperated Nelson; quintessentially a man of action; hisflagship St George being cleared for action for a week.

On 23rd March 1801 Parker called a council of war at which the diplomats revealed that theDanish Crown Prince and his government, actively hostile to Britain, were not prepared to

withdraw from the Confederation and that work was progressing on strengthening the defences ofCopenhagen. Nelson urged attack without delay: Let it be by the Sound, by the Belt, or any how,only lose not an hour.

On 26th March 1801 the Fleet moved towards the Sound, the gateway to the Baltic, and the greatDanish fortress of Cronenburg. Preparing for the battle Nelson moved his flag to the smaller shipElephant, 74 guns, whose captain, Foley, had led the attack at the Nile.

On 30th March 1801 the wind was fair for the advance and the British Fleet passed the Sound,keeping to the Swedish side. In the event the Swedes held their fire while the Danes atCronenburg fired without effect, the range being too great. The British Fleet anchored five milesbelow Copenhagen, allowing the senior officers to reconnoitre the citys defences in the luggerSkylark. During this reconnaissance key buoys, removed by the Danes, were replaced by pilots and

sailing masters in the British service.

The plan required the commander in chief, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, to advance from the Northwith the largest ships, pre-empting any relieving attack by the Swedish Fleet or a Russiansquadron, while Nelson took his division into the channel outside Copenhagen Harbour alongwhich the Danish ships were moored and, sailing northwards up the channel, attacked the DanishFleet, whose main strength lay at the northern end of their anchorage around the powerfulfortress of Trekroner, at the entrance to Copenhagen Harbour proper.


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The following ships, Isis, Glatton and Ardent, made the turn and anchoring engaged the Danishvessels they had been allocated.

Attempting to pass these ships Bellona grounded on the Middle Ground shoal, as did the followingRussell. Stuck fast these ships fired on the Danes as best they could, but several of the guns onBellona burst killing their crews, due to the age or the miscasting of the barrels or overcharging in

an effort to achieve greater range.

The grounding of Agamemnon, Bellona and Russell caused the Trekroner to be left unmarked,requiring Riou to carry out the bombardment with his squadron of smaller vessels, the billowingsmoke concealing his ships and protecting them initially from excessive damage.

Nelson in Elephant took the anchorage allocated to Bellona, with Ganges and Monarch anchoringimmediately in front of Elephant. With the line in place the battle fell to a slogging gunnery matchbetween the British ships and the Danish ships and batteries, floating and land, which lasted sometwo hours.

To the North the commander in chief listened with increasing anxiety as the large ships of the linein his squadron beat slowly down the channel, the wind fair for Nelson but contrary for them.

Seeing the intensity of the battle, Sir Hyde Parker concluded that he should Nelson theopportunity to break of the action and hoisted the signal to disengage, giving the battle its mostfamed episode.

The Battle of Copenhagen seen from the City.

Nelsons signal officer queried whether the signal should be repeated to the other ships, to whichNelson directed that only an acknowledgement was to be flown, while signal 16, the order for

close action, be maintained. No ship in Nelsons division acted on the signal except Captain Rioussquadron, attacking the Trekroner Fortress. Riou, expecting that Nelson would call off the assault,turned his ship to begin the withdrawal. The Danes redoubled their fire causing significant damageand casualties on Rious ships, with one shot cutting down a party of marines and the next killingRiou himself.

Nelson turned to Colonel Stewart, commanding the contingent of soldiers carried in the fleet, andsaid Do you know whats shown on board of the commander in chief? Number 39, to leave offaction! Leave off action! Now damn me if I do. Turning next to his flag captain, Nelson said You


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know, Foley, I have only one eye. I have a right to be blind sometimes. Nelson then raised histelescope to his blind eye and said I really do not see the signal.

Nelson goes ashore after the Battle of Copenhagen

By 2pm much of the Danish line ceased firing, with ships adrift and on fire, several havingsurrendered, their captains on board Elephant.

Captain Thesiger, a British officer with extensive experience of the Baltic after service in theRussian navy, went ashore with correspondence from Nelson to the Danish Crown Prince invitingan armistice. During the negotiations only the batteries on Amag Island, at the southern end of theDanish line, the Trekoner fortress and a few ships continued to fire.
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The British and Danish Fleets at the Battle of Copenhagen

A senior Danish officer, Adjutant General Lindholm, went on board Elephant to negotiate,directing the Trekoner to cease firing on his way. The British ships also ceased fire and the battleeffectively ended.

Defiance and Elephant went aground and the Danish Flagship, Dannebroge, grounded and blew up,with considerable casualties.

The surrender of a Danish ship during the Battle of Copenhagen


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The next morning Nelson went aboard the Danish ship Syaelland, anchored under the guns of theTrekoner, and took the surrender of her captain Stein Bille, who refused to strike to any officerother than Nelson himself. British gunboats took the Danish vessel in tow to add to the clutch ofDanish ships that had been taken in the battle. 19 Danish vessels were sunk, burnt or captured.Just before the battle, on 24th March 1801, the Tsar of Russia, Paul I, was murdered by membersof the St Petersburg court and replaced by his anti-French son. The effect of the Battle ofCopenhagen and the Tsars murder was to bring about the collapse of the Northern Confederation.

Captain Edward Riou, Royal Navy: killed in action at the Battle of Copenhagen

Casualties:British casualties were 253 killed 688 wounded. No British ship was lost. The Danes lost 790killed, 900 wounded and 2,000 made prisoner.

Anecdotes and traditions: Nelson considered Copenhagen to be his hardest fought fleet action. Although hampered bymany of their ships being unprepared for service the Danes fought fiercely and at times withdesperation in defence of their capital city, relays of army and civilian reinforcements replacingthe losses in the batteries.

The battle sealed Nelsons reputation as Britains foremost naval leader. Soon afterwards SirHyde Parker was recalled and Nelson left in command of the operations in the Baltic.


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From http://www.britishbattles.com/waterloo/battle-copenhagen.htm

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