| Helgoland
1864
By Mike Bennighof, PhD
January 2008
The last battle on the open seas between wooden warships took
place in the late spring of 1864, during the Second Schleswig
War between Denmark on one side and Austria and Prussia on the
other. The war began over Denmark’s annexation of the
provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, not formally part of the
kingdom but instead bound by “personal union” –
the King of Denmark also ruled each province as its duke.
Nationalism flared throughout Europe in the mid-19th century,
and Denmark was not exempt. Danish extremists wanted to incorporate
Danish-speaking Schleswig into the kingdom. German-speaking
Holstein, part of the German Confederation, could be allowed
to go its own way as far as all but a few extremists were
concerned.
But here none of Europe’s many ancient entanglements came
into play. By treaty, the two duchies could not be divided.
Where Schleswig went, so must go Holstein, and vice-versa. That
connection brought conflict with the German states. After some
months of rather ineffectual political pressure, the two largest
German states, Austria and Prussia, took matters into their
own hands and determined to wrest both duchies from the Danes.
The Danes evacuated Holstein without a fight, removing the official
reason for war, but legal justifications meant as little then
as in more recent conflicts. War for Schleswig was on, to a
very popular reception in Denmark.
Though badly outnumbered on land, the Danes had serious hope
of victory. They believed their army could hold its fortified
bridgeheads on the Danish mainland peninsula of Jutland and
keep the German powers off the Danish islands. The
Danish fleet outnumbered the Prussian navy and
the Danes thought themselves much the superior seamen. By
drawing out the conflict, the Danes aimed to engender an international
peace conference or direct intervention by Sweden and hopefully
Britain.
The Danes did not believe the Austrians would send their
fleet around Europe, and blockaded the German North Sea ports
with two frigates and a pair of corvettes. They captured four
merchant ships in February, two in March and a half-dozen
in April. Insurance rates soared, and German merchants pressed
the Austrian government to take action. The Austrians intended
to send the fleet to sea to protect Austrian shipping in the
Mediterranean, but it soon became clear that the Danes were
not waging long-range cruiser warfare. A decision would have
to come in Danish waters.
Commodore Wilhelm von Tegetthoff commanded a squadron of
two screw frigates and a gunboat, initially sent to Greek
waters to show the Austrian flag as a political crisis engulfed
the kingdom. When King Otto abdicated in late 1863, the squadron
moved on to cruise the Turkish coast on a training mission.
Tegetthoff was ordered to Lisbon, to await other ships there
before moving to the North Sea to break the blockade of Hamburg
and Bremen.
Ordered to Brest in early April, there he found further instructions
to proceed into the North Sea and try to break the blockade
with the ships available. Reinforcements were on their way,
including the ship-of-the-line Kaiser, screw corvette
Friedrich and ironclad frigate Don Juan d'Austria.
Tegetthoff proceeded to Texel in the Netherlands, where he was
joined by three small Prussian gunboats, and made a brief port
call in England where a harbor pilot steered the Austrian gunboat
Seehund into a pier, apparently intentionally.
After prowling the Frisian coast in search of the Danes,
the Austrians encountered the British frigate Aurora.
Aurora gave no hints about Danish positions, but
her captain knew exactly where they could be found. As soon
as the Austrians moved out of sight the British ship raced
for the island of Helgoland to inform the Danish squadron
resting there of the Austrians' strength and course.
Danish Commodore Edouard Suenson had the screw frigates Niels
Juel and Jylland and the screw corvette Heimdall.
Suenson decided to seek out the Austrians, and on the morning
of 9 May he got his wish. Tegetthoff's lookouts spotted the
Danes approaching in line ahead behind their flagship Niels
Juel. "Our armies have won victories," Tegetthoff
signalled Radetzky and the Prussians. "Now it
is our turn." The Austrian commander formed in his ships
in a battle line and went straight at the Danes.
Suenson's crews reacted enthusiastically as well, though
their commander lacked the Austrian leader's flair. "Men,
there are the Austrians," he told the crew of Niels
Juel. "Now we will meet them."
The three Danish ships mounted more guns than the allied
squadron, 102 to 98, and more of the Danish guns were rifled,
26 to nine. The two Austrian frigates opened fire at 4,000
yards and moved to close the range. The two Austrian ships
and the three Danes traded cannon fire for about 90 minutes
in a running fight, while the three Prussian ships meandered
aimlessly behind the Austrians.
Danish guns eventually found their targets and Schwarzenberg's
foremast caught fire. Radetzky turned to cover
the flagship's retreat, ignoring several signals from Tegetthoff
to disengage. Capt. Franz Jeremiasch's disobedience probably
saved the day for the Austrians, as a shell from Radetzky
destroyed Jylland's tiller and the Danish frigate
- much faster than either Austrian ship - fell away from the
chase. The Danes broke off the action.
The two Austrian ships withdrew to Helgoland - then ruled
by Britain - while the Danes headed for neutral Norway to
repair their damaged ships and await the outcome of armistice
negotiations. Tegetthoff brought his frigates back out to
sea as soon as the fire had been brought under control, but
the Danes could not be found.
The Austrians suffered 37 killed and 93 wounded, almost all
aboard Schwarzenberg, while the Danes lost 14 dead
and 54 wounded. The Prussians were not hit and do not appear
to have fired any shots. Both sides declared victory, the
Danes on account of greater damage to the Austrians, the Austrians
on the basis of having lifted the Danish blockade. The Danish
fleet did not challenge the reinforced Austrian squadron in
the North Sea, and grateful German merchants showered gifts
and praise on the Austrian naval officers.
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