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Greatest Admiral's


Ryga

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Well he might not have been in class with Admiral Nelson, but at the time he whas the best we had.

 

At Bornholm the Danish lost both their Admiral ships and both admirals, one killed and one captured.

 

The third battle of Öland 1566, if im right whas a minor battle with no result due to the storm, they where forced to quit the fighting becuse of windchanges.

 

He had control of the Baltic sea for some time, could tax the trade ships and so on, without the interference of the Danish navy.

 

I think without him the Danish would have won the 7 years war, now it became a draw with the Kalmar union ended for good.

 

/Baner

Keep in mind that Horn always outnumbered his foe(except Öland, 1564), and that he suffered severe casualties even at Bornholm, which was probably his 'greatest' victory. 

Edited by Kontreadmiral
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Well depends on how you see it, The Danish, lost up to 4000 men killed or wounded, both admirals and two admiral ships.

Which probably put the Danish fleet in a bad situation.

 

The Swedish navy lost around 884 men killed or wounded, along with 3 ships(One taken).

 

And yes he had more ships, but then numbers doesn't mean everything.

At bornholm both fleets went in for boarding and close up action, which is probably why there where such a high number of casualties amongst the crews.

 

He whas the greatest admiral we had at the time, thats why i mentioned him here.

If your gona question that, i think you should come up with another name for the list.

 

the thing is, Sweden didn't have many good admirals, the same as Denmark didn't have many good generals during the time period.

Edited by Baner
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Well depends on how you see it, The Danish, lost up to 4000 men killed or wounded, both admirals and two admiral ships.

Which probably put the Danish fleet in a bad situation.

 

The Swedish navy lost around 884 men killed or wounded, along with 3 ships(One taken).

 

And yes he had more ships, but then numbers doesn't mean everything.

At bornholm both fleets went in for boarding and close up action, which is probably why there where such a high number of casualties amongst the crews.

 

He whas the greatest admiral we had at the time, thats why i mentioned him here.

If your gona question that, i think you should come up with another name for the list.

 

the thing is, Sweden didn't have many good admirals, the same as Denmark didn't have many good generals during the time period.

I'm not denying he was the best admiral you had the time, hell he's the only good admiral you've ever had. But I don't think that he was great.

 

To be honest - Sweden has never really had any great admirals.

Edited by Kontreadmiral
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Not Admirals but equally as famous and possibly more important were the likes of Capt James Cook,Capt James Vancouver.Expert Navigators and first Class seamen.Without Seamen like them,Navigational Charts would have taken even longer to make.Even the failures like the illfated Franklin Expedition to find the Nortwest Passage had major impacts on Naval Warfare and Naval expansion.

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Helloo dear sir,

 

I have one that you might add to your list he was a famous captain, admiral and later vice admiral.

 

Matija Zmajević (also Matej Zmajević, in Russia Matvei Khristoforovich Zmayevich Russian: Матвей Христофорович Змаевич) (January 6, 1680, Perast, Bay of Kotor - August 23, 1735, Tavrov, Russia) was admiral of the Baltic Fleet and the shipbuilder of the famous Russian Tsar Peter I the Great, and for whom he built a fleet in Voronezh.

 

He was born in a prominent Bokelj Catholic family from Perast (Bay of Kotor). His uncle Andrija Zmajević, a poet, was a renowned Roman Catholic bishop of Antivari (Bar). The family was in conflict with another Perast family of Bujović, and after Vicko Bujović was killed in a fight on city streets, Matija was forced to leave Perast for alleged involvement when he was 28.[1] He escaped to the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and further to Istanbul, where he found refuge with Russian ambassador Peter Tolstoy. In 1712, Tolstoy sent him with recommendations to Peter I.[1] Impressed with Zmajević's education and maritime skills, the tsar accepted him in military service and sent him to Sankt Petersburg with the rank of Captain of Fregate, and he continued to quickly climb naval ranks.

 

Zmajević had great successes in maritime battles against Sweden, with whom Russia fought the Great Northern War for supremacy on Baltic Sea. He captured 7 smaller Swedish galleys in Battle of Gangut 1714, and his fleet battled with a minor Swedish force at Grengam in 1720, in the last naval battle of the Great Northern War. As a result of Zmajević's victory, Peter the Great sent some of his young officers (boyars) to the town of Perast in Boka in order to study maritime sciences there. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and put in charge for building the river fleet of Don. In 1725, he was honored to carry the emperor's crown at the funeral of Peter I.[1] Tsar's successor, Catherine I of Russia, decorated Zmajević with the Order of Alexander Nevsky, and in 1727 he was awarded the ultimate rank of Admiral.

After the death of Catherine I in 1727, Zmajević was accused of embezzlement, and sentenced to death in front of court-martial. He was abolished in the last minute and put aside as governor of Astrakhan area in the rank of Vice-Admiral, where he spent last years of his life. He worked on establishment of the Black Sea Fleet, which would carry on to play a significant role in Russian expansion to south after his death.

Zmajević has testated numerous donations to his hometown Perast and Boka Kotorska. He was buried with military honors in the Catholic Church of Saint Ludvig in Moscow.

 

To add more to this before Russian Tsar Peter I the Great ask him to join his couse he was a famous captain and admiral of most southern Croatian district called Boka Kotorska he was in command of fleet of 300 hunderd ships at that time with the ability to muster aditional 150 smaler ships in time of need witch at that time was not a little fleet .

 

He was the only non Russian at this time to recive decoration from the Russian tsar -Order of Alexander Nevsky .

Edited by Axralis
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Updated, however I didn't know what to do with the Sweeds :P.

 

Btw. How about we get some more considerations for the greatest admiral per nation.

Edited by Ryga
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For Spain's greatest, Blas de Lezo IMHO.

Agree, Cartagena de Indias was a masterpiece. The greatest French admiral was Suffren, no doubt.

 

Also, perhaps you could add King Christian IV for Denmark, he might've been a terrible general, but he was a pretty good admiral. His performance at Listerdyb and Colberger Heide was exceptional.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_IV_of_Denmark

Edited by Kontreadmiral
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Are we allowed to suggest captains? Or myth/legend captains? If so, Hendrick Vanderdecken from The Flying Dutchmen is my suggestion! (you probably know why, considering my name).

Hendrick Vanderdecken is a myth - He didn't exist. And even if he did, what did he ever do to make him 'great'?

Edited by Kontreadmiral
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I think John Byng should get an Honourable mention.  He was a British Admiral court martialled in 1757 and shot for failing to "do his utmost" in the face of the enemy at Minorca.  This is now considered to have been part of the reason that British officers in the RN were so recklessly and aggressively determinated which lead to the numerous british successes after this date.

 

Read about him more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byng

Edited by Sir Darric Vandhelm
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  • 3 weeks later...

Taken from the Sweden looks interesting thread. 

 

The links are translated with Google Translate so they might be a bit messed up.

 

Klas Horn who defeated the danish navy during the northern seven year's war. Had several crushing wins against the Danes.

https://translate.google.se/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsv.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FKlas_Kristersson_%2528Horn%2529&edit-text=

 

Carl Gustaf Wrangel,  An admiral who chrushed the Danish fleet at the battle of Femern. Later he also become a field marshal of the Swedish army and conquered both Jutland and Kronborgs Castle in the 1650's 

https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsv.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCarl_Gustaf_Wrangel

 

Gustaf Von Psilander was also a good admiral, fought against the brittish when he was an ordinary captian, and later on become an admiral and governor of the island Gotland wich he defended against the Russians with great success.

https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsv.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FGustaf_von_Psilander

https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsv.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSlaget_vid_Orford_Ness     The battle against the english.

 

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Taken from the Sweden looks interesting thread. 

 

The links are translated with Google Translate so they might be a bit messed up.

 

Klas Horn who defeated the danish navy during the northern seven year's war. Had several crushing wins against the Danes.

https://translate.google.se/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsv.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FKlas_Kristersson_%2528Horn%2529&edit-text=

 

Carl Gustaf Wrangel,  An admiral who chrushed the Danish fleet at the battle of Femern. Later he also become a field marshal of the Swedish army and conquered both Jutland and Kronborgs Castle in the 1650's 

https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsv.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCarl_Gustaf_Wrangel

 

Gustaf Von Psilander was also a good admiral, fought against the brittish when he was an ordinary captian, and later on become an admiral and governor of the island Gotland wich he defended against the Russians with great success.

https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsv.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FGustaf_von_Psilander

https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsv.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSlaget_vid_Orford_Ness     The battle against the english.

Fehmern was a Dutch victory and the Danish squadron was outnumbered 2-1 - There's nothing special or great about that. Horn is already on the list, even though I wouldn't call him 'great'.

Edited by Kontreadmiral
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Less biased english wiki?   It's a translation of the swedish wiki. 

 

The dutch ships was hired vessels. The leader of the dutch ships was an man born in Holland(Martin Thyssen Anckar Hjelm ) https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsv.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSj%C3%B6slaget_vid_Femern&sandbox=1

 

but who served the Swedish crown, he even become an amiral of the Swedish navy. So it was a big victory with for the Swedish navy. Sure it had it's mercernaries but what navy / army didnt have that during this time?

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Less biased english wiki?   It's a translation of the swedish wiki. 

 

The dutch ships was hired vessels. The leader of the dutch ships was an man born in Holland(Martin Thyssen Anckar Hjelm ) https://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsv.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSj%C3%B6slaget_vid_Femern&sandbox=1

 

but who served the Swedish crown, he even become an amiral of the Swedish navy. So it was a big victory with for the Swedish navy. Sure it had it's mercernaries but what navy / army didnt have that during this time?

It was common for armies to have mercenaries(The Swedish Army post-1630 consisted almost completely of German Landsknechten), but it wasn't that common to have mercenary naval vessels.

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