Olof Strömstierna

Last updated April 29, 2019

Olof Strömstierna (1664–1730) was a Swedish naval officer and admiral. He was born as Olof Knape but became ennobled under the name Strömstierna in 1715.

Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies, and in many navies is the highest rank. It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM". The rank is generally thought to have originated in Sicily from a conflation of Arabic: أمير البحر‎, amīr al-baḥr, "commander of the sea", with Latin admirabilis ("admirable") or admiratus ("admired"), although alternative etymologies derive the word directly from Latin, or from the Turkish military and naval rank miralay. The French version – amiral without the additional d – tends to add evidence for the Arab origin.

Biography

Early years and in the Dutch service

Strömstierna was born 1664 in Bohuslän where his father, Nils Knape, was a fisherman. Like many people in the archipelago, Strömstierna worked at the sea during his youth. He first sailed domestically, but went to France, England, America, and East Indies in 1697.^[1] During these travels he joined the Dutch East India Company and was once in the service of the States-General of the Netherlands, in which reached the rank of lieutenant.

Bohuslän is a Swedish province in Götaland, on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea to the west, and the county of Østfold, in Norway, to the north.

The East Indies or the Indies are the lands of South and Southeast Asia. In a more restricted sense, the Indies can be used to refer to the islands of Southeast Asia, especially the Indonesian Archipelago and the Philippine Archipelago. The name "Indies" is derived from the River Indus and is used to connote parts of Asia that came under Indian cultural sphere.

The Dutch East India Company was an early megacorporation founded by a government-directed amalgamation of several rival Dutch trading companies (voorcompagnieën) in the early 17th century. It was established on March 20, 1602 as a chartered company to trade with India and Indianised Southeast Asian countries when the Dutch government granted it a 21-year monopoly on the Dutch spice trade. It has been often labelled a trading company or sometimes a shipping company. However, VOC was in fact a proto-conglomerate company, diversifying into multiple commercial and industrial activities such as international trade, shipbuilding, and both production and trade of East Indian spices, Formosan sugarcane, and South African wine.. The Company was a transcontinental employer and an early pioneer of outward foreign direct investment. The Company's investment projects helped raise the commercial and industrial potential of many underdeveloped or undeveloped regions of the world in the early modern period. In the early 1600s, by widely issuing bonds and shares of stock to the general public, VOC became the world's first formally-listed public company. In other words, it was the first corporation to be listed on an official stock exchange. It was influential in the rise of corporate-led globalisation in the early modern period.

The Swedish Navy Staff

In 1698, Strömstierna was offered the chance of joining the Swedish navy. He became a captain in 1700,^[1] and assisted admiral Cornelius Anckarstierna with the enrollment of "all the existing seamanship in Bohuslän". In 1701, he joined the Swedish expedition to Arkhangelsk in Russia as the head of the frigate Marstrand.^[2] Strömstierna became captain of an enlisted sailor company in Bohuslän in 1704.^[1] His most important missions were to convoy transport ships, undertake cruises, and protect the Bohuslän coast against Danish attacks.^[1] As a reward, he became a schout-bij-nacht in the Gothenburg Squadron in 1714 and was ennobled under the name Strömstierna in 1715.^[1]

Arkhangelsk, also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, in the north of European Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea. The city spreads for over 40 kilometers (25 mi) along the banks of the river and numerous islands of its delta. Arkhangelsk was the chief seaport of medieval and early modern Russia until 1703. A 1,133-kilometer-long (704 mi) railway runs from Arkhangelsk to Moscow via Vologda and Yaroslavl, and air travel is served by the Talagi Airport and a smaller Vaskovo Airport. As of the 2010 Census, the city's population was 348,783, down from 356,051 recorded in the 2002 Census, and further down from 415,921 recorded in the 1989 Census.

A frigate is a type of warship, having various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.

A cruise ship is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages when the voyage itself, the ship's amenities, and sometimes the different destinations along the way, form part of the passengers' experience. Transportation is not the only purpose of cruising, particularly on cruises that return passengers to their originating port. On "cruises to nowhere" or "nowhere voyages", cruise ships make 2-to-3 night round trips without any ports of call.

The fighting in Bohuslän against Tordenskjold

In 1716, Strömstierna was missioned to convoy a number of transport vessels, loaded with siege artillery and supplies, to Svinesund. When he reached Dynekilen, his flotilla was attacked by Peter Tordenskjold who managed to destroy many of the ships after a five-hour-long battle. For his efforts in the battle, Strömstierna was named vice admiral by the Swedish king Charles XII.^[1]

Svinesund is a sound separating the Swedish municipality of Strömstad in the province of Bohuslän in the county of Västra Götaland from the Norwegian municipality of Halden in the county of Østfold.

The naval Battle of Dynekilen took place on 8 July 1716 during the Great Northern War.

Peter Tordenskjold Norwegian sea officer

Peter Jansen Wessel Tordenskiold, commonly referred to as Tordenskjold, was a Norwegian nobleman and an eminent naval flag officer in the service of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. He rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral for his services in the Great Northern War. Born in Trondheim, Peter Wessel travelled to Copenhagen in 1704, and was employed in the navy. He won a name for himself through audacity and courage, and was ennobled as Peter Tordenskiold by King Frederick IV in 1716. His greatest exploit came later that year, as he destroyed the supply fleet of Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Dynekilen. In 1720, he was killed in a duel. In Denmark and Norway he is among the most famous national naval heroes. He experienced an unusually rapid rise in rank and died when he was only 30 years old.

During Strömstierna's subsequent period as commander of the Gothenburg Squadron, he contributed significantly to the repelling of Tordenskjold's attack on the city in 1717.^[1] That year he became head of Roddargastarnas Regiment (3,000 men), and in 1718 he led the shipment of over a hundred ships loaded with food and other supplies from Gothenburg to Strömstad, which made the military campaign against Norway possible.

Strömstad is a locality and the seat of Strömstad Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 6,288 inhabitants in 2010. For historical reasons, Strömstad is called a city despite its small population.

The term military campaign applies to large scale, long duration, significant military strategy plans incorporating a series of inter-related military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war. The term derives from the plain of Campania, a place of annual wartime operations by the armies of the Roman Republic.

The last few years

When Strömstierna retired from active service in 1719, the Swedish government raised him to the rank of full admiral. He spent the rest of his years, until his death in 1730, at his farm Vensö in Bohuslän.^[1]

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References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Herman Hofberg; Frithiof Heurlin; Viktor Millqvist; Olof Rubenson (1906). "Strömstierna, Olof". Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon (in Swedish). pp. 551–552.
↑ "Strömstierna, Olof". Nordisk familjebok (in Swedish). 1918. p. 450.

This article contains content from Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon, a Swedish encyclopedia now in public domain.

External links

"Tordenskiolds ship can still be seen", Swedish article by Sven H. Gullman

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[SBH-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Herman Hofberg; Frithiof Heurlin; Viktor Millqvist; Olof Rubenson (1906). "Strömstierna, Olof". Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon (in Swedish). pp. 551–552.

[Nordisk-2] "Strömstierna, Olof". Nordisk familjebok (in Swedish). 1918. p. 450.