Battle of Oliwa

Overview

The Battle of Oliwa, also known as the Battle of Oliva or the Battle of Gdańsk Roadstead, was a naval battle that took place on 28 November, 1627, slightly north of the port of Gdańsk off of the coast of the village of Oliva during the Polish–Swedish War. It was the largest naval engagement to be fought by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy and resulted in defeating a Swedish squadron led by Niels Stiernsköld that conducted a blockade of the harbour of Gdańsk. The Poles sailed out of the Gdańsk harbour and engaged the Swedish squadron capturing the Swedish flagship and sinking another Swedish warship.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Oliwa was the largest naval engagement fought by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy during the Polish–Swedish War of 1626–1629. The engagement broke a Swedish naval blockade of Gdańsk, one of the Commonwealth's most vital commercial ports, by destroying part of the Swedish squadron commanded by Niels Stiernsköld. The capture of the Swedish flagship and the sinking of a second Swedish warship represented a direct blow to Swedish naval control of the approaches to Gdańsk, relieving the pressure the blockade had placed on the harbour and its trade.

Tactics

Commanders (1)