Swedish ship
Venus
was a
Swedish
frigate
, designed by
Fredrik Henrik af Chapman
.
Venus
was captured by the Russians in 1789 in
Oslofjord
. The frigate retained the same name in Imperial Russian service until 1807, when she was sold to the
Kingdom of Naples
.
Design
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The Swedish
Bellona
class were the first 'super-heavy frigates' in the world, armed with 24-pounder long guns, with the lead ship being built in 1782. Due to the tactical needs in the Baltic and North sea coastlines where maneuverability and shallow draft sometimes could eclipse more gundecks, the Swedes wanted these frigates, the 10 ships of the Bellona class, to be able to challenge a ship of the line, and fill in the battle line in emergency or when favored by the tactical situation.
[1]
Service history
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Venus
was launched on 13 July 1783 in
Karlskrona
. In 1786 she sailed to
Gothenburg
where she was to be subordinated by the local naval station, which was commanded by Adolf Ulrik Sheldon. Three years later, on 1 June 1789, while she was under the command of Major Magnus Hansson, and belonged to the
Gothenburg Squadron
, she was captured by the Russians in a complicated action that created an interesting legal and diplomatic aftermath.
Capture by the Imperial Russian Navy
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On 1 June 1789,
Venus
was patrolling the waters outside the Norwegian coast. Norway at this time was ruled by Denmark and considered neutral. On 31 May, the lookouts reported a Russian squadron of four frigates and a
cutter
, the report was soon corrected to two
ships of the line
, two frigates and a cutter.
Relying on his ships excellent sailing abilities, Commander Hansson expected to be able to stay ahead of the Russian ships, until a change in the wind suddenly deprived him of the possibility of reaching the open sea. Cornered by the Russians, the ship escaped into the entrance of the fjord of Christiania (now
Oslo
), expecting the protection of a neutral nation. However, the Russian ships followed and went into action, the cutter
Merkuriy
was the first to reach
Venus
and both ships opened fire. The larger ships then followed, positioning themselves to be able to fire along the length of
Venus
.
Hansson had prepared his ship with a spring on the anchor cable to enable to train his ship's broadside guns over a wide arc, and initially he managed to damage the first-arriving Russian ships. However, when the capital ships were in place and also opened fire, Commander Hansson, after consultation with his senior officers, concluded that nothing more could be achieved by further bloodshed and hauled down his colours. According to a testimony from the Danish/Norwegian pilot, Commander Hansson, right after hauling down his flag, boarded the Russian flagship claiming the attack as a crime of war.
The hard feelings among Swedish officers was also obvious in other official reports. The squadron commander A.F. Rosensvard mentioned in his official report about the loss of
Venus
that his ships had respected the neutrality versus Russian ships in Danish harbours, "...ships that I with my superiour force easily could have captured if it had been within legal practice...".
The Russian newspapers and authorities made the outmost of the capture, spreading the news that
Venus
had hauled down her colours to the 22-gun cutter
Merkuriy
. The imprisoned Commander Hansson reacted furiously claiming his honour as officer had been questioned and wrote a letter to the commander of the Russian squadron asking him as a gentleman to testify about the events.
Commander Jenkins of the cutter
Merkuriy
answered the call from his enemy colleague. In a letter that can still be found of the Swedish court protocols he not only confirmed that Commander Hansson did actually haul down his flag to the squadron, but also claimed his ship suffered severe damages and would have been sunk if the larger ships had not come to his assistance.
Upon returning from captivity, Commander Major Hansson was placed on trial at the royal court in
Stockholm
in July 1791 for the loss of his ship. The relatively mild sentence of loss of a half-year salary for positioning
his majesty’s frigate Venus
into a position where he could not escape to the open sea indicated that the court did not consider the loss itself as a crime and accepted the fact that Major Hansson should have been able to expect a safe haven on neutral waters, and that his defence of the ship had been sufficient until the point of the arrival of the full Russian squadron.
Service with Russia and Naples
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The ship was taken over by the Russian Navy and participated in the
battle of Reval
and in the
battle of Vyborg Bay in 1790
under the command of the Scottish-born Russian Admiral
Roman Crown
.
Venus
visited
Holland
in 1795 and
Great Britain
in 1795?1797 and 1799?1800.
The British took the opportunity of making drawings of her at
Sheerness Dockyard
in 1799, she was carrying 46 guns at that time.
[2]
She served in the
Adriatic Sea
between 1805 and 1807 and in the
Aegean Sea
in 1807. She was sold to the
Kingdom of Naples
in
Palermo
to avoid capture by the British.
Notes
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Sources
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- Court protocol Stockholm royal court June, 1791, regarding the loss of HM Frigate Venus. (Protocoller hallne uti Kongl. Maj:ts Krigs-Hof-Ratt i Stockholm, 1791
- Gardiner, Robert & Lavery, Brian (Editors) (1992)
The Line of Battle: The Sailing Warship 1650-1840
, Conway Maritime Press, London.
- Quote: A.F. Rosensvard, official report Wiko fiord den 12 Juni, from HM Frigate
Bellona
- Treadea, John; Sozaev, Eduard (2010).
Russian Warships in the Age of Sail, 1696?1860: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates
. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.
ISBN
978-1-84832-058-1
.
External links
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