Worst, most FAILED, Historic Battle in this era

[Ligatorswe]

I was inspired by Monkey Bullet to ask for exampled of the WORST battles. That is the battles where commanders made the most stupid and idiotic mistakes in this era.







 

 

[Ligatorswe]

My favourite is the battle of Öland 1676.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_%C3%96land



Even before the battle begun the swedish flagship KRONAN exploded. I wonder what the admirals in the danish navy was thinking when they saw the flagship Kronan, the largest ship in the world with 126 cannons, explode BEFORE the batle even had begun. :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronan_(ship)  Then the rest of the battle failed. SVÄRDET (96 cannons), the second largest ship sank. After the battle the 3rd largest ship (86 cannons) went on a rock and sank. Etc, etc...



The admiral in charge (creutz) had never been out with naval ships, had never sailed, had never commanded anything out on the sea,  and was afraid of water (!). https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_Creutz_den_%C3%A4ldre  (I live close to Kalmar in Sweden where there is a wonderful exibition of the findings from the wreck http://www.regalskeppetkronan.se/ )



The danish commander Niel Juel was greeted like a hero after the battle and stands as a statue in central Copenhagen today. But honestly speaking all he did was looking at the swedish navy how it selfdestructed.

Edited February 27, 2016 by Ligatorswe

[Adam Creutz]

The loss of Lorentz Creutz was a great tragedy for the family... we will remember him forever

[Olof Cederström]

HMS Kronan also carried 3-36 pounds bronze cannons. But something I found funny is that they could only fire the largest pieces 6-8 times an hour because of the heat in the bronze. They had to use water to cool them down.

Edited February 27, 2016 by Olof Cederström

[kumisz]

Second Battle of Algericas

 

In 1801, a few days after the First Battle of Algericas, the combined french-spanish fleet moved back to Cádiz. The british squadron stationed at Gibraltar tried to intercept the fleet, but they were still damaged after the recent battle. Not so the intact 74 gun HMS Superb which just arrived into Gibraltar only a few days ago, so while the damaged ships gave up the chase and turned back to Gibraltar, the Superb continued to follow the french-spanish fleet, which positioned itself in 3 columns. The Superb catched up on the fleet at night of July 12th, and engaged the two last ships in the center and the northern column, the 112 gun Real Carlos and San Hermenegildo 1st rates, in pitch black, with her lights turned off, firing from both sides.

 

The captain of the Superb knew that his ship won't be able to sustain this fight for a long time, so he disengaged the spanish ships to look for another target.

 

The spanish ships however didn't notice that the Superb is gone, and continued firing in the pitch black and thick smoke - at each other. As the fight escalated and the two ships boarded each other, they noticed their blunder; but their rigging was ravelled and one of the ships caught fire, which they could not extinguish, nor could they unravel the riggings. Shortly after, the two spanish ships exploded, killing roughly 1700 men. Only 48 people survived from the two ships combined.

 

In the meantime, the Superb advanced forward along the column, and after a short fight, boarded the french 74 gun Saint Antione, and towed it back to Gibraltar.

 

(Source: http://acelmonstrum.host22.com/vince.html watch out, hungarian)

Edited February 27, 2016 by kumisz

[ObiQuiet]

A fliipant aside: the non-battle in which Nelson left Alexandria 25 hours before the French arrived, and several other mis-chances along the way.  No cowardice or stupidity, just the frustrations and inherent difficulty of finding the enemy.

 

From a Nelson’s Pursuit of Napoleon’s Egypt Expedition, (a through summary article):

 

 

The destruction of the French fleet, and with it a major portion of the best of the French army, would have followed; Bonaparte would have been a beaten man; and none of his most famous victories, Marengo and Austerlitz foremost, would have been won. The First Coalition might have been revived, the Revolution contained, the French Empire never founded, the future of Europe changed altogether.

 

Nelson's own letters, part 1, in which you can see both hope and frustration.

 

First letter of part 2:

 

 

I own I fully expected to have found Dispatches off this end of Candia; for both Sir William Hamilton and General Acton, I now know, said they believed Egypt was their object; for that when the French Minister at Naples was pressed, on the Armament appearing off Sicily, he declared that Egypt was their object.

I have again to deeply regret my want of frigates, to which I shall ever attribute my ignorance of the situation of the French fleet. I shall endeavour to keep in the opening of the Archipelago in Lat. between 36° and 37° N., steering with all sail to the westward, and hope soon to gain information from some Merchant-vessel.

[Ligatorswe]

..

Edited February 27, 2016 by Ligatorswe

[Johan]

Second Battle of Algericas

 

In 1801, a few days after the First Battle of Algericas, the combined french-spanish fleet moved back to Cádiz. The british squadron stationed at Gibraltar tried to intercept the fleet, but they were still damaged after the recent battle. Not so the intact 74 gun HMS Superb which just arrived into Gibraltar only a few days ago, so while the damaged ships gave up the chase and turned back to Gibraltar, the Superb continued to follow the french-spanish fleet, which positioned itself in 3 columns. The Superb catched up on the fleet at night of July 12th, and engaged the two last ships in the center and the northern column, the 112 gun Real Carlos and San Hermenegildo 1st rates, in pitch black, with her lights turned off, firing from both sides.

 

The captain of the Superb knew that his ship won't be able to sustain this fight for a long time, so he disengaged the spanish ships to look for another target.

 

The spanish ships however didn't notice that the Superb is gone, and continued firing in the pitch black and thick smoke - at each other. As the fight escalated and the two ships boarded each other, they noticed their blunder; but their rigging was ravelled and one of the ships caught fire, which they could not extinguish, nor could they unravel the riggings. Shortly after, the two spanish ships exploded, killing roughly 1700 men. Only 48 people survived from the two ships combined.

 

In the meantime, the Superb advanced forward along the column, and after a short fight, boarded the french 74 gun Saint Antione, and towed it back to Gibraltar.

 

(Source: http://acelmonstrum.host22.com/vince.html watch out, hungarian)

 

Also mentioned in one of the early Aubrey books, if I remember correctly. It is fascinating in some way, but man, such explosions must have been shocking, 1700 men dead 

[Arvenski]

 

The spanish ships however didn't notice that the Superb is gone, and continued firing in the pitch black and thick smoke - at each other. 

Ahahahaha. The crew of the Superb must've had a good laugh at the Spaniards' expense, as they were sailing away. I bet the whole British fleet at Gibraltar did, too, when the Superb and her crew came back to tell the tale.

[Marques]

Ahahahaha. The crew of the Superb must've had a good laugh at the Spaniards' expense, as they were sailing away. I bet the whole British fleet at Gibraltar did, too, when the Superb and her crew came back to tell the tale.

Los espańoles tambien nos reimos de ti , payaso, y capturamos muchos barcos, aqui abajo tienes un ejemplo:

The Action of 9 August 1780 was a naval engagement of the Anglo-Spanish War, in which a Spanish fleet, led by Admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova, along with a squadron of French ships, encountered a large British convoy. The Spanish and French force captured almost all the British vessels, which dealt a severe blow to the commerce of Great Britain.[8][9][10]

The British convoy, led by Sir John Moutray, captain of HMS Ramillies and three frigates, sailed from Portsmouth on 27 July. On 9 August, they encountered the Spanish fleet.

The Spaniards captured 52 of 55 British vessels, making it one of the most complete naval captures ever made.[11] The British lost 80,000 muskets, equipment for 40,000 troops, 294 cannons (the normal British troop size during the American Independence War was 40,000 troops), and 3,144 men. The financial impact of the losses were estimated to be around £1,500,000[12] (£1,000,000 in gold and £500,000 – £600,000 in equipment and ships). The action also helped to derail a secret British diplomatic effort to make peace with Spain.[13] The loss was still bitterly remembered in Great Britain 30 years later, at the height of the Napoleonic Wars.[12]

Algunos americanos como este memo Arvensky de Nueva York se rien de nuestros muertos, cuando en esos tiempos España ayudaba a las 13 colonias. Valiente gilipoyas.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Marques

[ObiQuiet]

That could be top in a list of most one-sided battles... 9 August 1780 was 31 SOL vs 1 SOL, or 37 versus 4 if you include the frigates!

[Marques]

It was very big mistake for the British Admirals. Some people, historical expert, have said indeed that 13 USA colonies won the American indepence war due to this fail in the british fleet action on 9th August 1780.

Por eso para los memos que se rien de nuestros muertos y fracasos tambien tenemos nuestras victorias.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Marques

[Arvenski]

It's amazing what can happen when someone screws up.

[Admiral 8Q]

Most failed naval battle? Probably the battle of Lake Erie in 1813.

[kumisz]

One of my favorite occasions (not in this era, and not quite a naval battle, more like its aftermath):

 

In 1905, after the battle of Tsushima, the surviving russian ships that were fast enough to flee from the japanese fleet after the surrender of the remaining russian ships, made their way to the original objective, Vladivostok, or fled to chinese ports to be interned until the end of the war. The destroyer Bodriy, on board with the survivors of another russian ship, decided to sail into Shanghai, but was hit by a storm, and in the strong upwind, it could barely move forward at full steam. By the time the storm ended, the ship ran out of coal, and the crew set up the emergency sails to try to reach the coast, but the food and water rations were also running low. In the end, the starving crew even drank the water supply of the boilers. A few days later the ship was found by the british cargo steamer Qualin, which towed the destroyer to Shanghai, where it was interned.

 

Source (hungarian but a lot of good images): http://acelmonstrum.host22.com/csuz.html

Edited March 10, 2016 by kumisz

[Louis Marie Dragases]

One of my favourite fails of the early Napoleonic era, is the capture of the Dutch fleet at Den Helder.

 

The Dutch fleet was anchored between the island of Texel and Den Helder, and was trapped by a thick sheet of ice.

 

Unfortunately for them the french army was moving towards them, which led to the capture of the ships by the 8th Hussar regiment and the 15th Line infantry regiment. The Hussars each charged with an infantrymen on the croup of the horses, towards the Dutch fleet.

 

As far as I know, the only time that SoL were captured by a cavalry charge! 5 Ships of the line, 3 frigates, 6 corvettes, and 4 cutters.

 

Edited March 17, 2016 by Louis Marie Dragases

[Captain Red]

If you enjoy a good read check this out: The 6 Most Mismatched Battles Ever Won by Underdogs

 

Some stories there are gold, like the use of the Dardanelle Gun, an antique, decorative cannon firing random crap at the British Navy ships until they give up and leave