I Battle of the Strait on Sund

**The First Battle of the Sound** - a naval battle during the German-Polish War of Zealand, fought by the fleets of the Kingdom of Germany and the Kingdoms Kingdom of Poland and Kingdom of Pomerania from May 10 to July 7, 1610. It was the largest Polish Fleet battle in history, with a total of 68 Polish ships participating.

## **Before the battle**

King Casimir III]] had already begun preparations for war with Germany, which was engaged in several other wars. He also reinforced his fleet with several transport brigs. Thanks to that he managed to transport one of the Polish army to Scandinavian Skåne. Unfortunately, the king died of illness on October 12, 1609. His son and successor, Krystyn III - decided to continue his father's policy. He ordered the concentration of the entire Polish fleet in Sunda, and he recruited a great captain from Gdansk - Sieciech Teczyński - and appointed him Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Polish Fleet, which happened almost on the eve of the war, on May 9, 1610.

On the day the war broke out, the German fleet was blockading the Pomeranian port in Varnow. Upon hearing of the outbreak of war the commander of the German navy, Admiral Erich Haase, decided to eliminate the threat from the Polish fleet.

## **The Clash**

=== **Both sides**

 ♪ Pomeranian kingdom ♪
 The kingdom of Germany

So as you can see, the Poles had a numerical advantage over the Germans, but they had outdated units, while their opponents had more modern ships.

### **Course of the clash** =

Before the clash, both sides formed what was then known as a "swarm" formation. At the beginning of each formation sailed the admiral's ship. In the case of the Poles it was "Prophet Samuel", and in the case of the Germans - "Amazone". The Polish galleys on the flanks lined up in front formation, i.e. one next to the other. The wind was favorable for the Germans.

The battle began with the mutual artillery fire of both enemy formations. The German admiral ordered to aim at the Polish karaks, hoping that in this way he would be able to break the Polish formation. The accurate shelling sent as many as 8 Polish heavy units to the bottom, including the "Samuel the Prophet" (Teczynski managed to escape from the battle). (Teczynski managed to escape from the sinking ship), but the captains of smaller vessels, following their sailing instincts rather than orders, maintained the formation. Meanwhile, the Polish galleys outflanked the German formation and the accurate fire of their guns sank the German command ship - the "Amazone". In spite of that the battle was evenly matched. The victory was tipped by the arrival of the Pomeranian fleet under the command of Przybora von Szczecin, which attacked the Germans from the rear. German captains panicked and started to run away. In view of this, Erich Haase ordered an orderly retreat, during which his fleet managed to sink two more Pomeranian transport ships.

### **Losses** =

 ♪ Pomeranian kingdom ♪
 ♪ The kingdom of Germany ♪

## **Effects**

The retreat of the German fleet allowed the land-based Polish forces to safely cross the Sound to Zealand, thus capturing that island.

A month after the battle, German ships attempted to regain control of the Danish Straits. This attempt led to the Second Battle of the Sound.

As a result of the battle, the Polish fleet suffered heavy losses. This showed King Christine its weakness. This was one of the factors that led to the modernization of the fleet after the war.