Action of 26 July 1566 1566
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1566 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Sweden | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Northern Seven Years' War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 56.7333, 16.6667 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The battle that took place on 26 July 1566 during the Northern Seven Years' War and was a slight victory for a Swedish fleet over a combined Danish and Lübecker fleet. It began just east of Öland and the Allied fleet eventually retreated toward Gotland.
Two days after the battle a storm sank fourteen of the Allied ships while they were anchored near Visby, drowning around 5900 men. The Swedish fleet, further out to sea, returned to port with some damage.
On 25 July, Horn discovered the Allied Danish–Lübeck fleet at the northern tip of Öland, headed for Gotland. Horn, who had a headwind, decided to avoid battle, but when the wind turned he started the battle on the morning of 26 July. A few more losses did not affect either fleet, when a sudden wind made it impossible for the Swedish navy to continue its pursuit of the Danish fleet, which was anchored to the Gotland coast to bury the Danish vice-admiral Christopher Morgisen on hallowed ground after his death from a cannonball.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action of 26 July 1566 (revision 1370754910), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Conquest of Kalmar 1523 · 20 km
- Siege of Kalmar 1611 · 22 km
- Battle of Öland 1676 · 32 km
- Battle of Öland (1563) 1563 · 32 km
- Battle of Öland (1789) 1789 · 66 km
- First Battle of Öland 1564 · 75 km
Other battles of the Northern Seven Years' War
- Battle of Mared 1563
- Battle of Öland (1563) 1563
- Action of 12 July 1564 1564
- First Battle of Öland 1564
- Action of 4 June 1565 1565
- Action of 7 July 1565 1565
- Battle of Axtorna 1565
- Battle of Brobacka 1566
- Siege of Varberg 1569
All 10 battles of the Northern Seven Years' War →
Browse more: battles in Sweden · Europe · Early modern battles