The Battle of Grengam was a naval battle of the Great Northern War which was fought on 27 July 1720 between the Swedish navy and the Imperial Russian Navy. The battle marked the end of Swedish and Russian offensive naval operations in the Baltics.
History[]
More than any other activity, the creation of a fleet marked out Peter the Great's reign. In 1700 the Russian admiralty was established; in 1705 the navy began recruiting specialized seamen; in 1715 the prestigous Naval Academy came into being; and by 1724 there were 32 ships-of-the-line in the Baltic fleet. Using this fleet, Peter attacked the Swedes, where will to resist was much weakened after the death of Charles XII at Frederiskhall in 1718. The Swedish Navy was defeated in two major engagements at Ezel in 1719 - the first victory of the Russian fleet on the open sea - and Grengam in 1720. At Ezel the Russian navy captured three ships in what Peter laconically described as "a good start for the Russian navy." At Grengam a Russian fleet composed largely of light galleys enticed the heavier Swedish ships into shallow water; two frigates ran aground and were boarded and two more were captured in the subsequent pursuit. Denied its command of the Baltic, Stockholm was forced to the negotiating table. The Peace of Stockholm (1720) brought war between Sweden and Hanover to a close. The latter brought Bremen and Verden for one million thalers, while Prussia obtained part of Pomerania, including Stettin, for two million thalers. The Treaty of Rystad (1721), meanwhile, brought peace between Sweden and Russia and allotted the best part of Sweden's Baltic provinces to Peter, but Finland was restored to Sweden. Russia had now replaced Sweden as the great power in the Baltic and central and eastern Europe.