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153-497: Vasa or Wasa ( Swedish pronunciation: [²vɑːsa] ) is a Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628. The ship sank after sailing roughly 1,300 m (1,400 yd) into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century, until she was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping area in Stockholm harbor. The ship

306-566: A Protestant perspective it was not successful. The king's plans for a Polish campaign and for securing Sweden's interests required a strong naval presence in the Baltic. The Swedish Navy suffered several severe setbacks during the 1620s. In 1625, a squadron cruising in the Bay of Riga was caught in a storm and ten ships ran aground and were wrecked. In the Battle of Oliwa in 1627, a Swedish squadron

459-481: A line of battle . The man-of-war now evolved into the ship of the line . In the 18th century, the frigate and sloop-of-war  – too small to stand in the line of battle – evolved to escort convoy trade, scout for enemy ships and blockade enemy coasts. During the 19th century a revolution took place in the means of marine propulsion , naval armament and construction of warships . Marine steam engines were introduced, at first as an auxiliary force, in

612-602: A nervous breakdown . In May 1626 King Gustavus Adolphus launched his invasion of Polish Prussia . Escorted by a fleet of over 125 ships, Swedish forces numbering over 8,000 soldiers (including 1,000 cavalry) disembarked in Ducal Prussia near Piława (Pillau) . The landings were a complete surprise to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 's defences, and despite his relatively small forces, Gustavus Adolphus quickly captured 16 Prussian towns, almost without

765-607: A Swedish force inside the town of Czarne (Hammerstein).Three days later the Swedes surrendered, leaving behind their banners and standards. Many of the Swedish troops, who were predominantly newly raised German mercenaries, changed sides to the Commonwealth. This victory also convinced George William, Elector of Brandenburg , to declare his support for King Sigismund III. During the night of May 22 to 23, King Gustavus Adolphus

918-489: A deck like a helicopter carrier for helicopters and V/STOL aircraft. Polish-Swedish War (1625%E2%80%931629) 49,480 troops The Polish–Swedish War of 1626–1629 was the fourth stage (after 1600–1611 , 1617–1618 , and 1620–1625 ) in a series of conflicts between Sweden and Poland fought in the 17th century. It began in 1626 and ended four years later with the Truce of Altmark and later at Stuhmsdorf with

1071-419: A depth of 32 m (105 ft) only 120 m (390 ft) from shore. Survivors clung to debris or the upper masts, which were still above the surface. Many nearby boats rushed to their aid, but despite these efforts and the short distance to land, 30 people reportedly perished with the ship. Vasa sank in full view of a crowd of hundreds, if not thousands, of mostly ordinary Stockholmers who had come to see

1224-474: A design competition was organized. The winning design, by the Swedish architects Månsson and Dahlbäck, called for a large hall over the ship in a polygonal, industrial style. Ground was broken in 1987, and Vasa was towed into the half-finished Vasa Museum in December 1988. The museum was officially opened to the public in 1990. Warship In wartime, the distinction between warships and merchant ships

1377-472: A displacement hierarchy, and the size of all vessel types has grown beyond the definitions used earlier in the 20th century. Another key difference between older and modern vessels is that all modern warships are "soft", without the thick armor and bulging anti-torpedo protection of World War II and older designs. Most navies also include many types of support and auxiliary vessels , such as minesweepers , patrol boats and offshore patrol vessels . By 1982

1530-457: A few millimeters, and their bores were almost exactly 146 mm (5.7 in). The remaining armament of Vasa consisted of eight 3-pounders, six large-caliber stormstycken (similar to what the English called howitzers ) for use during boarding actions, and two 1-pound falconets . Also included on board were 894 kilograms (1,971 pounds) of gunpowder and over 1,000 shot of various types for

1683-978: A fight (with the neutral Duchy of Prussia 's passive support). Many of these towns were inhabited by Protestants and they opened their gates freely to the Lutheran Swedish forces, who they saw as co-religionists. The Swedish king, however, failed to capture the largest prize - the city of Danzig ( Gdańsk ), which maintained its own small army and fleet for defence. In preparation for his major attack on Danzig, King Gustavus Adolphus increased his forces to over 22,000. The Polish king, Sigismund III , received no support from his vassal Ducal Prussia when fighting to defend it. He deployed north with an army of 11,000 men and pitched battle at Gniew against King Gustavus Adolphus' force of 8,150 infantry, 1,750 cavalry and 74 cannon. The fighting continued for several days - from 22 September to 1 October 1626 - until Sigismund III withdrew his army, and called on reinforcements from around

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1836-444: A formidable battery, was built with these tactics in mind, and therefore lacked a unified broadside with guns that were all aimed in roughly the same direction. Rather, the guns were intended to be fired independently and were arranged according to the curvature of the hull, so that the ship bristled with artillery in all directions, covering virtually all angles. The guns facing fight aft, the stern chasers, were still not on board when

1989-447: A great advantage over the light Swedish horsemen. Swedish losses in the fight were heavy, amounting to 600 or 700 killed, almost all of which were cavalry (including Herman Wrangel's son). The Polish took 300 prisoners, 10-15 standards, as well as 10 of Gustavus Adolphus' famous leather cannon . Commonwealth losses were under 300 killed and wounded. The Swedish king himself barely escaped with his life and later said he had never taken "such

2142-405: A heavy timber frame located on the upper gundeck. The bowsprit served as a point of attachment for several of the major stays that held up much of the standing rig. At the outer end of the bowsprit there was a spritsail topmast with a mast head to carry a flagstaff. The foremast was made from a single pine tree with additional material to make the cheeks and the hounds that were used to attach

2295-470: A hot bath". The war in Prussia demonstrated that the armies of the Commonwealth were poorly prepared for warfare requiring the continuous use or fighting of field fortification elements. To a large extent, this neglect was due to the nature of the wars conducted by the Commonwealth in the eastern borderlands in the last century, characterised by the poor quality of fortifications, where the main importance in

2448-437: A line of ships (or line ahead ) attempting to present the batteries of one side of each ship toward the enemy. The guns would be aimed in the same direction, and fire could be concentrated on a single target. In the 17th century, tactics involving organized formations of large fleets had still not been developed. Rather, ships would fight individually or in small improvised groups, and focused on boarding. Vasa , though possessing

2601-585: A mighty power. The Swedish successes in Germany also explained why the then still mighty Commonwealth had such difficulty in defeating Gustavus Adolphus's army. The war, fought at the mouth of the Vistula, wreaked havoc in Gdansk Pomerania and Ducal Prussia . A plague that swept through these areas and even reached Mazovia also added to the misery. As a result of the suspension of maritime exports,

2754-521: A minimum of two years on the sculptures, most likely with the assistance of an unknown number of apprentices and assistants. No direct credit for any of the sculptures has been provided, but the distinct style of one of the most senior artists, Mårten Redtmer, is clearly identifiable. Other accomplished artists, like Hans Clausink, Johan Didrichson Tijsen (or Thessen in Swedish) and possibly Marcus Ledens, are known to have been employed for extensive work at

2907-446: A pioneer of modern-day amphibious assault ships . During some of her operations, she was known to have used at least four cover names, R1, GL, MT, and Ryujo Maru. An amphibious warfare ship is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines , on enemy territory during an amphibious assault. Specialized shipping can be divided into two types, most crudely described as ships and craft. In general,

3060-469: A reform of the army and the state's finances, defeating the thoroughly reformed Swedish army was impossible at this point. To do so, a longer respite was needed - and this could only be provided by peace, or at least a truce of several years. Mediation between the warring parties was undertaken by the Netherlands , who were very interested in freeing Baltic trade from the ongoing war. Gustavus Adolphus

3213-408: A sheave which rotates on an axle – the rope that goes through the block fits into a groove cut in the sheave. The load in the rope is transferred from the axle to the shell of the block, which, at the time of Vasa , has a rope strop (usually) or wrought iron strap which goes around the shell and is used to fasten the block to another object. More rarely, a block does not have a sheave. It

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3366-416: A ship class without redefinition. The destroyer is generally regarded as the dominant surface-combat vessel of most modern blue-water navies. However, the once distinct roles and appearances of cruisers , destroyers , frigates , and corvettes have blurred. Most vessels have come to be armed with a mix of anti-surface, anti-submarine and anti-aircraft weapons. Class designations no longer reliably indicate

3519-459: A smaller number of larger guns to be carried. The final innovation during the 19th century was the development of the torpedo and development of the torpedo boat . Small, fast torpedo boats seemed to offer an alternative to building expensive fleets of battleships. Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced

3672-428: A temporary replacement of the collapsed sterncastle was constructed, and many of the holes from the iron bolts that had rusted away were plugged. The final lift began on 8 April 1961, and on the morning of 24 April, Vasa was ready to return to the world for the first time in 333 years. Press from all over the world, television cameras, 400 invited guests on barges and boats, and thousands of spectators on shore watched as

3825-402: A truce was finally concluded at Stary Targ on 6 September 1629, to be valid for six years. Tolkmicko , Elbląg , Braniewo , Piława and Klaipėda remained in Swedish hands. The Brandenburg Elector , who played an ambiguous role in the ongoing war, George William (who let Swedish troops advancing on Pomerania through his territory), was given Sztum , Głowa and Malbork as a sequestration on

3978-614: A war of maneuver - small mobile units striking at the enemy's lines of communication - Hetman Koniecpolski managed to halt any further Swedish advances, even forcing the Swedes onto the defensive. In the meantime, the Sejm (Commonwealth Parliament) agreed to raise funds for the war, but the situation of the Polish forces was difficult. Lithuanian forces were dealt a serious defeat in December 1626 near Kokenhusen in Livonia and retreated behind

4131-574: A widely recognized symbol of the Swedish Empire . The ship was built on the orders of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania (1621–1629). She was constructed at the navy yard in Stockholm under a contract with private entrepreneurs in 1626–1627 and armed primarily with bronze cannons cast in Stockholm specifically for

4284-407: Is directly or indirectly identified with the king and was originally intended to glorify him as a wise and powerful ruler. The only actual portrait of the king is located at the very top of the transom in the stern. Here he is depicted as a young boy with long, flowing hair, being crowned by two griffins representing the king's father, Charles IX . A team of at least six expert sculptors worked for

4437-537: Is often blurred. Until the 17th century it was common for merchant ships to be pressed into naval service, and not unusual for more than half of a fleet to be composed of merchant ships—there was not a large difference in construction, unlike the difference between a heavily armoured battleship and an ocean liner. Until the threat of piracy subsided in the 19th century, it was normal practice to arm larger merchant ships such as galleons . Warships have also often been used as troop carriers or supply ships, such as by

4590-419: Is reflected in many paintings of Vasa from the 1970s to the early 1990s, such as the lively and dramatic drawings of Björn Landström or the painting by Francis Smitheman. In the late 1990s, this view was revised and the colors are properly reflected in more recent reproductions of the ship's decoration by maritime painter Tim Thompson and the 1:10 scale model in the museum. Vasa is an example not so much of

4743-424: Is the lion, which can be found as mascarons originally fitted on the insides of the gunport doors, grasping the royal coat of arms on either side, the figurehead, and even clinging to the top of the rudder. Each side of the beakhead originally had 20 figures (though only 19 have actually been found) that depicted Roman emperors from Tiberius to Septimius Severus . Overall, almost all heroic and positive imagery

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4896-422: Is then termed a "dead block". Deadeyes are used in the standing rigging. These are the pieces of wood that, operating in pairs, allow adjustment of the length of shrouds or stays. A lanyard passes through a number of holes in each pair – tightening the lanyard shortens the distance between the pair of deadeyes. Since natural fibre ropes can change in length depending on the amount of moisture in them,

5049-455: The Battle of Dirschau (modern Tczew ), Koniecpolski with about 7,800 men (including 2,500 cavalry and hussars ), tried to stop the Swedish army (10,000 men including 5,000 infantry) from reaching Danzig. A major battle was fought between 17 and 18 August 1627 (in the new style calendar), with the Swedish forces positioned near the marshes of the River Motława . The Swedes hoped to provoke

5202-457: The Catholic side. A major success for Sweden was to gain the right to levy a duty on Polish sea trade of 3.5% of the value of the goods transported. The finances obtained from this were mostly used for the war in Germany. Only there did the reformed Swedish army demonstrate its worth to the whole of Europe, gaining a reputation as the best army in the world and elevating Sweden to the status of

5355-705: The Dvina river. Hetman Koniecpolski recaptured the town of Puck on 2 April 1627. The Swedes planned to strike at Koniecpolski from two directions — Oxenstierna from direction of the Vistula and Johann Streiff von Lauenstein and Maximilian Teuffel from Swedish-held Pomerania . The flooding of the Vistula disrupted their plans and allowed Koniecpolski to intercept the enemy units coming from neighboring Pomerania. In mid-April, Koniecpolski (with 2,150 hussars, 3,290 cossack cavalry, 2,515 western infantry, 1,620 Polish infantry, 1,265 dragoons and 2,000 Ukrainian Cossacks) surrounded

5508-1015: The French Navy in the 18th century or the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War. In war since the early 20th century, merchant ships were often armed and used as auxiliary warships , such as the Q-ships of the First World War and the armed merchant cruisers of the Second World War . The main types of warships today are, in order of decreasing size: aircraft carriers – amphibious assault ships – cruisers – destroyers – frigates – corvettes – fast attack boats . A more extensive list follows: The first evidence of ships being used for warfare comes from Ancient Egypt , specifically

5661-556: The Gulf of Danzig , Riksnyckeln ("Key of the Realm") ran aground at Viksten in the southern archipelago of Stockholm and Vasa foundered on her maiden voyage. Gustavus Adolphus was engaged in naval warfare on several fronts, which further exacerbated the difficulties of the navy. In addition to battling the Polish navy, the Swedes were indirectly threatened by Imperial forces that had invaded Jutland . The Swedish king had little sympathy for

5814-541: The Second World War Nazi Germany's fleet of U-boats (submarines) almost starved Britain into submission and inflicted huge losses on US coastal shipping. The success of submarines led to the development of new anti-submarine convoy escorts during the First and Second World Wars, such as the destroyer escort . Confusingly, many of these new types adopted the names of the smaller warships from

5967-533: The Treaty of Stuhmsdorf . Despite the Commonwealth winning certain notable battles, the Swedes would end up victorious in the end. The first encounter of the war took place near Wallhof , Latvia , where a Swedish army of 4,900 men under Gustavus II Adolphus ambushed a Polish-Lithuanian force of 7,000 men under Jan Stanisław Sapieha . Polish-Lithuanian casualties amounted to between 1000 dead, wounded and 150 captured. The Lithuanian commander later suffered

6120-587: The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) treaty negotiations had produced a legal definition of what was then generally accepted as a late-twentieth century warship. The UNCLOS definition was : "A warship means a ship belonging to the armed forces of a State bearing the external marks distinguishing such ships of its nationality, under the command of an officer duly commissioned by

6273-443: The age of sail , such as corvette , sloop and frigate . A seaplane tender is a ship that supports the operation of seaplanes . Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are regarded by some as the first aircraft carriers and appeared just before the First World War . A major shift in naval warfare occurred with

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6426-512: The battle of Oliwa near Danzig. Over the winter, Koniecpolski recognised the need to reform the Polish army, especially to strengthen the firepower of his infantry and artillery to match the Swedish units. The Swedes, for their part, learned from the Poles how to best employ their cavalry by using more aggressive tactics. In 1628 the Polish forces, lacking funding, were forced to stop their offensive and switch to defense. Swedish forces captured

6579-516: The capital ships from the menace of the torpedo boat. At this time, Britain also introduced the use of fuel oil to power steam warships, instead of coal. Oil produced twice as much power per unit weight as coal, and was much easier to handle. Tests were conducted by the Royal Navy in 1904 involving the torpedo-boat destroyer Spiteful , the first warship powered solely by fuel oil. These proved its superiority, and all warships procured for

6732-420: The dreadnoughts on an even larger hull , battlecruisers sacrificed armour protection for speed. Battlecruisers were faster and more powerful than all existing cruisers, but much more vulnerable to shellfire than contemporary battleships. The torpedo-boat destroyer was developed at the same time as the dreadnoughts. Bigger, faster and more heavily gunned than the torpedo boat , the destroyer evolved to protect

6885-482: The stays . The lower mainmast was assembled as a "made mast" from a number of pieces of timber that reinforced a central core, rather than from a single tree. A single-tree mast was the preferred choice at the time and was much stronger structurally. The shipyard in Stockholm had at least indirect access to timber from western Sweden at the time. " Gothenburg masts" were considered among the best in Europe, but this source

7038-536: The 17th century had the primary meaning of " fascine " and also "sheaf" in a heraldic context. Vasa became the most widely recognised name of the ship, largely because the Vasa Museum chose this form of the name as its 'official' orthography in the late 1980s. This spelling was adopted because it is the form preferred by modern Swedish language authorities, and conforms to the spelling reforms instituted in Sweden in

7191-526: The 17th century, Sweden went from being a sparsely populated, poor, and peripheral northern European kingdom of little influence to one of the major powers in continental politics. Between 1611 and 1718 it was the dominant power in the Baltic , eventually gaining territory that encompassed the Baltic on all sides. This rise to prominence in international affairs and increase in military prowess, called stormaktstiden ("age of greatness" or "great power period"),

7344-554: The 4th century BC and the subsequent refinement of this technology enabled the first fleets of siege engine - equipped warships by the Hellenistic age . During late antiquity , ramming fell out of use and the galley tactics against other ships used during the Middle Ages until the late 16th century focused on boarding. Naval artillery was redeveloped in the 14th century, but cannon did not become common at sea until

7497-480: The Bay of Riga led the king to propose building two ships of a new, medium size as a quick compromise, and he sent a specification for this, a ship which would be 120 feet (37 m) long on the keel. Henrik declined, since he had already cut the timber for a large and a small ship. He laid the keel for a larger ship in late February or early March 1626. Master Henrik never saw Vasa completed; he fell ill in late 1625, and by

7650-625: The Danish king, Christian IV , and Denmark and Sweden had been bitter enemies for well over a century. However, Sweden feared a Catholic conquest of Copenhagen and Zealand . This would have granted the Catholic powers control over the strategic passages between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea , which would be disastrous for Swedish interests. Until the early 17th century, the Swedish navy

7803-414: The Poles into a reckless attack and then to destroy them with infantry fire and artillery , but Koniecpolski decided otherwise. The Swedes then took the initiative and attacked with cavalry, and managed to deal severe damage to the Polish cavalry, but failed to inflict a crippling blow on the main body of the army (the morale of which remained high, mostly thanks to Koniecpolski). When, King Gustavus Adolphus

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7956-473: The Polish economy lost 30 million zlotys, according to Jan Seredyka's calculations. In Royal Prussia, war damage covered a third of the countryside. Gdańsk's trade and textile industry also suffered serious losses. The six-year truce had already ended after the death of Sigismund III . The Commonwealth and its army more than regained the prestige lost at Altmark with impressive victories over two great powers, Russia and Turkey. Meanwhile, Sweden, three years after

8109-501: The Privy Council cancelled the orders for the others after the king's death in 1632. These ships, especially Kronan and Scepter , were much more successful, took part in battles, and served as flagships in the Swedish navy until the 1660s. The second of the so-called regalskepp (usually translated as "royal ships"), Äpplet was completed in 1629 and is regarded as a sister ship of Vasa . The only significant difference between

8262-689: The Royal Navy from 1912 were designed to burn fuel oil. During the lead-up to the Second World War , Germany and the United Kingdom once again emerged as the two dominant Atlantic sea powers. The German navy, under the Treaty of Versailles , was limited to only a few minor surface ships. But the clever use of deceptive terminology, such as Panzerschiffe deceived the British and French commands. They were surprised when ships such as Admiral Graf Spee , Scharnhorst , and Gneisenau raided Allied supply lines. The greatest threat however,

8415-534: The Swedes lost only 30 dead and 60 wounded. Hearing of the defeat, the Polish Sejm was persuaded to increase funds for the army and accepted military aid from the Holy Roman Empire in the form of a corps of imperial troops under Field Marshal Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburg . Another imperial corps, commanded by Albrecht von Wallenstein , operated in nearby Pomerania . Nonetheless, Koniecpolski

8568-554: The attacks, as in the Battle of the Coral Sea . Modern warships are generally divided into seven main categories, which are: aircraft carriers , cruisers , destroyers , frigates , corvettes , submarines , and amphibious warfare ships . Battleships comprise an eighth category, but are not in current service with any navy in the world. Only the deactivated American Iowa -class battleships still exist as potential combatants, and battleships in general are unlikely to re-emerge as

8721-592: The attitude of the Sejm, and society was already decidedly tired of the constant wars fought by the Republic in the 17th century. Thus, only Wladyslaw IV sought war - the nobility, the magnates and Gdansk wanted peace. A strong asset for Polish deputies in the peace negotiations with the Swedes was the 21,000-strong crown army concentrated in Pomerania in the summer. Finally, on 12 September 1635, King Wladysław IV Vasa

8874-499: The basis of a truce treaty (the Elector undertook to surrender these cities and the surrounding area to the Swedes if no lasting peace was reached after the expiry of the truce). In Livonia , the previous state of possession was retained. The Commonwealth had to pay half a million zlotys for Austrian assistance. Soon after the truce was concluded, some Crown troops, with the knowledge of King Sigismund III , marched to Germany to support

9027-411: The bottom and required considerable lifting power to overcome. More than 30 years after the ship's sinking, in 1663–1665, Albreckt von Treileben and Andreas Peckell mounted an effort to recover the valuable guns. With a simple diving bell , the team of Swedish and Finnish divers retrieved more than 50 of them. Such activity waned when it became clear that the ship could not be raised by the technology of

9180-621: The bows as bow chasers . Four more heavy guns were intended for the stern, but the cannon foundry could not cast guns as fast as the navy yard could build ships, and Vasa waited nearly a year after construction was finished for her armament. When the ship sailed in August 1628, eight of the planned armament of 72 guns had still not been delivered. All cannons during this time had to be made from individually made moulds that could not be reused, but Vasa's guns had such uniform precision in their manufacturing that their primary dimensions varied by only

9333-426: The captain responsible for supervising construction of the ship, Söfring Hansson, arranged for the ship's stability to be demonstrated for Vice Admiral Fleming, who had recently arrived in Stockholm from Prussia. Thirty men ran back and forth across the upper deck to start the ship rolling, but the admiral stopped the test after they had made only three trips, as he feared the ship would capsize. According to testimony by

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9486-436: The centre of gravity was too high. There was some vacillation over the exact armament for Vasa whilst she was being built. One issue was trying to source enough guns to meet the specification. The major options were a lower gun-deck battery of 24-pounders, with the upper gun-deck being 12-pounders – versus having just 24-pounders on both the gun-decks. Vasa was actually built with upper gun-deck ports sized for

9639-425: The city to the southern side of the harbor, where four sails were set, and the ship made way to the east. The gun ports were open, and the guns were out to fire a salute as the ship left Stockholm. As Vasa passed under the lee of the bluffs to the south (now called Södermalm ), a gust of wind filled her sails, and she heeled suddenly to port . The sheets were cast off, and the ship slowly righted herself as

9792-421: The cold brackish waters of the Baltic because, he reasoned, they were free from the shipworm Teredo navalis , which usually destroys submerged wood rapidly in warmer, saltier seas. Franzén had previously been successful in locating wrecks such as Riksäpplet and Lybska Svan , and after long and tedious research he began looking for Vasa as well. He spent many years probing the waters without success around

9945-402: The construction, but construction of the ship was too far advanced to allow further widening. In the end, no guilty party could be found. The answer Arendt de Groote gave when asked by the court why the ship sank was "Only God knows". Gustavus Adolphus had approved all measurements and armaments, and the ship was built according to the instructions and loaded with the number of guns specified. In

10098-464: The contract for the maintenance of rigging, French sailcloth was specified, but the cloth for the sails of Vasa most likely came from Holland. The sails were made mostly of hemp and partly of flax . The rigging was made entirely of hemp imported from Latvia through Riga. The king visited the shipyard in January 1628 and made what was probably his only visit aboard the ship. In the summer of 1628,

10251-399: The country. The Polish hetman (historical army rank equivalent to field marshal ) Stanisław Koniecpolski quickly came to his king's aid with a force of 4,200 light cavalry , 1,000 dragoons , and 1,000 infantry. In early November the king handed him command of the army. With further reinforcements Koniecpolski soon had 10,000 men to match the 20,000 Swedish troops in Prussia. Engaging in

10404-419: The crew sober? Was the ballast properly stowed? Were the guns properly secured? However, no one was prepared to take the blame. Crewmen and contractors formed two camps; each tried to blame the other, and everyone swore he had done his duty without fault and it was during the inquest that the details of the stability demonstration were revealed. Next, attention was directed to the shipbuilders. "Why did you build

10557-590: The death of Gustavus Adolphus and with the terrible defeat at Nördlingen fresh in its memory, was at a crisis point and ready to avoid another conflict at all costs. The new ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, buoyed up by his impressive victory over the Russian army at Smolensk , wanted to consolidate his military fame, so he did not wish for any agreement at all. However, it was not on him that further developments depended, but on

10710-480: The decks below. Peckell reported that he had recovered 30 cartloads of wood from the ship; these might have included not just planking and structural details but also some of the sculptures which today are missing, such as the life-size Roman warrior near the bow and the sculpture of Septimius Severus that adorned the port side of the beakhead . Since Vasa lay in a busy shipping channel, ships occasionally dropped anchor over her, and one large anchor demolished most of

10863-484: The disaster, was immediately taken for questioning. Under initial interrogation, he swore that the guns had been properly secured and that the crew was sober. A full inquest before a tribunal of members of the Privy Council and Admiralty took place at the Royal Palace on 5 September 1628. Each of the surviving officers was questioned as was the supervising shipwright and a number of expert witnesses. Also present at

11016-414: The divers to cut tunnels through the clay with high-pressure water jets and suck up the resulting slurry with a dredge, all while working in total darkness with hundreds of tonnes of mud-filled ship overhead. A persistent risk was that the wreck could shift or settle deeper into the mud while a diver was working in a tunnel, trapping him underneath the wreckage. The almost vertical sections of the tunnels near

11169-404: The early 20th century. Just before Vasa was ordered, Dutch-born Henrik Hybertsson ("Master Henrik") was shipwright at the Stockholm shipyard. On 16 January 1625, Master Henrik and business partner Arendt de Groote signed a contract to build four ships, two with a keel of around 135 feet (41 m) and two smaller ones of 108 feet (33 m). Master Henrik and Arendt de Groote began buying

11322-412: The end, no one was punished or found guilty for negligence, and the blame effectively fell on the dead Henrik Hybertsson. Less than three days after the disaster, a contract was signed for the ship to be raised. However, those efforts were unsuccessful. The earliest attempts at raising Vasa by English engineer Ian Bulmer resulted in righting the ship but also got her more securely stuck in the mud, which

11475-417: The fact that 17th-century warships were built with intentionally high superstructures (to be used as firing platforms), this made Vasa a risky undertaking. Vasa was built during a time of transition in naval tactics, from an era when boarding was still one of the primary ways of fighting enemy ships to an era of the strictly organized ship-of-the-line and a focus on victory through superior gunnery. Vasa

11628-516: The financial difficulties of the state, the envoys of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were also prompted to the truce by the worrying actions of Moscow , which had established contacts with Turkey and purchased a very large amount of modern armaments, especially muskets, in Western Europe. In addition, Tartar incursions intensified, which, however, were successfully repelled by regimental officer Stefan Chmielecki . After long negotiations,

11781-474: The first timbers broke the surface. The ship was then emptied of water and mud and towed to the Gustav V dry dock on Beckholmen, where the ship was floated on her own keel onto a concrete pontoon, on which the hull still stands. From the end of 1961 to December 1988, Vasa was housed in a temporary facility called Wasavarvet ("The Vasa Shipyard"), which included exhibit space as well as the activities centred on

11934-403: The first time, the aircraft carrier became the clear choice to serve as the main capital ship within a naval task force. World War II was the only war in history in which battles occurred between groups of carriers. World War II saw the first use of radar in combat. It brought the first naval battle in which the ships of both sides never engaged in direct combat, instead sending aircraft to make

12087-494: The government of the State and whose name appears in the appropriate service list or its equivalent, and manned by a crew which is under regular armed forces discipline." The first practical submarines were developed in the late 19th century, but it was only after the development of the torpedo that submarines became truly dangerous (and hence useful). By the end of the First World War submarines had proved their potential. During

12240-468: The guns were capable of being reloaded quickly enough to be reused in the same battle. The size of a ship required to carry a large number of cannons made oar-based propulsion impossible, and warships came to rely primarily on sails. The sailing man-of-war emerged during the 16th century. By the middle of the 17th century, warships were carrying increasing numbers of cannons on their broadsides and tactics evolved to bring each ship's firepower to bear in

12393-402: The guns. Vasa had three masts : a foremast towards the bow of the ship, a mainmast near the middle and a mizzen mast towards the aft of the ship. The fore- and mainmasts were built in three sections: a lower mast that was stepped on the stem and keel at the bottom of the ship's hull and passed through each of the decks; a topmast that was attached to the lower section; and a topgallant mast at

12546-421: The gust passed. At Tegelviken , where there is a gap in the bluffs, an even stronger gust again forced the ship onto her port side, this time pushing the open lower gunports under the surface, allowing water to rush in onto the lower gundeck. The water building up on the deck quickly exceeded the ship's minimal righting ability, and water continued to pour in until it ran down into the hold. The ship swiftly sank to

12699-508: The heavily gilded sculptures of early Baroque art but rather "the last gasps of the medieval sculpture tradition" with its fondness for gaudy colors, in a style that today would be considered extravagant or even vulgar. The sculptures are carved out of oak , pine or linden , and many of the larger pieces, like the huge 3-meter (9.8-foot) long figurehead lion, consist of several parts carved individually and fitted together with bolts. Close to 500 sculptures, most of which are concentrated on

12852-439: The high stern and its galleries and on the beakhead, are found on the ship. The figure of Hercules appears as a pair of pendants, one younger and one older, on each side of the lower stern galleries; the pendants depict opposite aspects of the ancient hero, who was extremely popular during antiquity as well as in 17th-century European art. On the transom are biblical and nationalistic symbols and images. A particularly popular motif

13005-457: The hull held together by joinery and wooden treenails remained intact for as much as two centuries, suffering gradual erosion of surfaces exposed to the water, unless they were disturbed by outside forces. Eventually the entire sterncastle, the high, aft portion of the ship that housed the officers' quarters and held up the transom, gradually collapsed into the mud with all the decorative sculptures. The quarter galleries , which were merely nailed to

13158-661: The identification of the ship could not be determined without closer investigation. Soon after the announcement of the find, planning got underway to determine how to excavate and raise Vasa . The Swedish Navy was involved from the start, as were various museums and the National Heritage board, representatives of which eventually formed the Vasa Committee, the predecessor of the Vasa Board. A number of possible recovery methods were proposed, including filling

13311-467: The inquest was the Admiral of the Realm, Carl Carlsson Gyllenhielm . The object of the inquest was as much or more to find a scapegoat as to find out why the ship had sunk. Whoever the committee might find guilty for the fiasco would face a severe penalty. Surviving crew members were questioned one by one about the handling of the ship at the time of the disaster. Was she rigged properly for the wind? Was

13464-527: The introduction of the aircraft carrier . First at Taranto and then at Pearl Harbor , the aircraft carrier demonstrated its ability to strike decisively at enemy ships out of sight and range of surface vessels. By the end of the Second World War, the carrier had become the dominant warship. Shinshū Maru was a ship of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. She was the world's first purpose-built landing craft carrier ship, and

13617-551: The ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, protected by case-hardened steel armour, and powered by coal-fired triple-expansion steam engines, pre-dreadnought battleships carried a main battery of very heavy guns in fully-enclosed rotating turrets supported by one or more secondary batteries of lighter weapons. The role of corvettes , sloops and frigates were taken by new types of ships like destroyers , protected cruisers and armoured cruisers . Another revolution in capital warship design began shortly after

13770-399: The main material for warship construction. From the 1850s, the sailing ships of the line were replaced by steam-powered battleships , while the sailing frigates were replaced by steam-powered cruisers . The armament of warships also changed with the invention of the rotating barbettes and turrets , which allowed the guns to be aimed independently of the direction of the ship and allowed

13923-406: The many assumed locations of the wreckage. He did not succeed until, based on accounts of an unknown topographical anomaly just south of the Gustav V dock on Beckholmen , he narrowed his search. In 1956, with a home-made, gravity-powered coring probe, he located a large wooden object almost parallel to the mouth of dock on Beckholmen. The location of the ship received considerable attention, even if

14076-489: The most militarized states in history. Gustavus Adolphus (1594–1632) has been considered one of the most successful Swedish kings in terms of success in warfare. When Vasa was built, he had been in power for more than a decade. Sweden was embroiled in a war with Poland-Lithuania , and looked apprehensively at the development of the Thirty Years' War in present-day Germany. The war had been raging since 1618 and from

14229-434: The naval yards at the time Vasa was built, but their respective styles are not distinct enough to associate them directly with any specific sculptures. The artistic quality of the sculptures varies considerably, and about four distinct styles can be identified. The only artist who has been positively associated with various sculptures is Mårten Redtmer, whose style has been described as "powerful, lively and naturalistic". He

14382-754: The northern Nile River most likely to defend against Mediterranean peoples. The galley warship most likely originated in Crete an idea which was soon copied and popularized by the Phoenicians . In the time of Mesopotamia , Ancient Persia , Phoenicia , Ancient Greece and the Ancient Rome , warships were always galleys (such as biremes , triremes and quinqueremes ): long, narrow vessels powered by banks of oarsmen and designed to ram and sink enemy vessels, or to engage them bow -first and follow up with boarding parties. The development of catapults in

14535-469: The other three, is described as "stiff and ungainly" and was done by other carvers, perhaps even apprentices, of lesser skill. On 10 August 1628, Captain Söfring Hansson ordered Vasa to depart on her maiden voyage to the naval station at Älvsnabben . The day was calm, and the only wind was a light breeze from the southwest. The ship was warped (hauled by anchor) along the eastern waterfront of

14688-409: The potential of ships as gun platforms, and large, heavily armed ships made a more dramatic statement in the political theater of naval power. Beginning with Vasa , he ordered a series of ships with two full gundecks, outfitted with much heavier guns. Four such ships were built after Vasa : Äpplet ("The Apple"), Kronan ("The Crown"), Scepter and Göta Ark (literally "Ark of Götaland"), before

14841-458: The raw materials needed for the first ships in 1625, purchasing timber from individual estates in Sweden as well as buying rough-sawn planking in Riga , Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad ), and Amsterdam . As they prepared to begin the first of the new ships in the autumn of 1625, Henrik corresponded with the king through Vice Admiral Klas Fleming about which ship to build first. The loss of ten ships in

14994-408: The roofs of the quarter galleries , and the background of the transom (the flat surface at the stern of the ship) were all painted red, while the sculptures were decorated in bright colors, and the dazzling effect of these was in some places emphasized with gold leaf . Previously, it was believed that the background color had been blue and that all sculptures had been almost entirely gilded, and this

15147-472: The second quarter of the 19th century. The Crimean War gave a great stimulus to the development of guns. The introduction of explosive shells soon led to the introduction of iron , and later steel , naval armour for the sides and decks of larger warships. The first ironclad warships, the French Gloire and British Warrior , made wooden vessels obsolete. Metal soon entirely replaced wood as

15300-417: The ship herself have provided scholars with invaluable insights into details of naval warfare, shipbuilding techniques and everyday life in early 17th-century Sweden. Today Vasa is the world's best-preserved 17th century ship, answering many questions about the design and operation of ships of this period. The wreck of Vasa continually undergoes monitoring and further research on how to preserve her. During

15453-408: The ship is much sparser and is largely confined to the steerage and the great cabin, at the after end of the upper gundeck. Residues of paint have been found on many sculptures and on other parts of the ship. The entire ornamentation was once painted in vivid colors. The sides of the beakhead (the protruding structure below the bowsprit ), the bulwarks (the protective railing around the weather deck),

15606-555: The ship sank, however. Naval gunnery in the 17th century was still in its infancy. Guns were expensive and had a much longer lifespan than any warship. Guns with a lifetime of over a century were not unheard of, while most warships would be used for only 15 to 20 years. In Sweden and many other European countries, a ship would normally not "own" her guns, but would be issued armament from the armory for every campaign season. Ships were therefore usually fitted with guns of very diverse age and size. What allowed Vasa to carry so much firepower

15759-504: The ship set sail. The crowd included foreign ambassadors, in effect spies of Gustavus Adolphus' allies and enemies. The Council sent a letter to the king the day after the loss, telling him of the sinking, but it took over two weeks to reach him in Poland. "Imprudence and negligence" must have been the cause, he wrote angrily in his reply, demanding in no uncertain terms that the guilty parties be punished. Captain Söfring Hansson, who survived

15912-416: The ship so narrow, so badly and without enough bottom that it capsized?" the prosecutor asked the shipwright Jacobsson. Jacobsson stated that he built the ship as directed by Henrik Hybertsson (the original shipbuilder, recently deceased), who in turn had followed the specification approved by the king. Jacobsson had in fact widened the ship by 1-foot 5 inches (c. 42 cm) after taking over responsibility for

16065-666: The ship was mostly based on the Renaissance idealization of Roman and Greek antiquity, which had been imported from Italy through German and Dutch artists. Imagery borrowed from Mediterranean antiquity dominates the motifs, but also include figures from the Old Testament and even a few from ancient Egypt . Many of the figures are in Dutch grotesque style, depicting fantastic and frightening creatures, including mermaids, wild men , sea monsters and tritons . The decoration inside

16218-419: The ship was moved from a depth of 32 to 16 meters (105 to 52 feet) in the more sheltered area of Kastellholmsviken, where divers could work more safely to prepare for the final lift. Over the course of a year and a half, a small team of commercial divers cleared debris and mud from the upper decks to lighten the ship, and made the hull as watertight as possible. The gun ports were closed by means of temporary lids,

16371-541: The ship with ping-pong balls and freezing her in a block of ice, but the method chosen by the Vasa Board (which succeeded the Vasa Committee) was essentially the same one attempted immediately after the sinking. Divers spent two years digging six tunnels under the ship for steel cable slings, which were taken to a pair of lifting pontoons at the surface. The work under the ship was extremely dangerous, requiring

16524-403: The ship's master, Göran Mattson, Fleming remarked that he wished the king were at home. Gustavus Adolphus had been sending a steady stream of letters insisting that the ship be put to sea as soon as possible. There has been much speculation about whether Vasa was lengthened during construction and whether an additional gun deck was added late during the build. Little evidence suggests that Vasa

16677-407: The ship's wooden sculptures. Almost all of the iron on the ship rusted away within a few years of the sinking, and only large objects, such as anchors, or items made of cast iron, such as cannonballs, survived. Organic materials fared better in the anaerobic conditions, and so wood, cloth and leather are often in very good condition, but objects exposed to the currents were eroded by the sediment in

16830-414: The ship. A building was erected over the ship on her pontoon, but it was very cramped, making conservation work awkward. Visitors could view the ship from just two levels, and the maximum viewing distance was in most places only a couple of meters, which made it difficult for viewers to get an overall view of the ship. In 1981, the Swedish government decided that a permanent building was to be constructed, and

16983-417: The ship. Richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself, upon completion she was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However, Vasa was dangerously unstable, with too much weight in the upper structure of the hull. Despite this lack of stability, she was ordered to sea and sank only a few minutes after encountering a wind stronger than a breeze. The order to sail

17136-423: The ship. The two hulks were filled with as much water as was safe, the ropes tightened, and the water pumped out. The sunken ship then rose with the ships on the surface and could be towed to shallower waters. The process was then repeated until the entire ship was successfully raised above water level. Even if the underwater weight of Vasa was not great, the mud in which she had settled made her sit more securely on

17289-470: The ships carry the troops from the port of embarkation to the drop point for the assault and the craft carry the troops from the ship to the shore. Amphibious assaults taking place over short distances can also involve the shore-to-shore technique, where landing craft go directly from the port of embarkation to the assault point. Amphibious assault ships have a well deck with landing craft which can carry tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles and also have

17442-400: The side of the hull could also potentially collapse and bury a diver inside. Despite the dangerous conditions, more than 1,300 dives were made in the salvage operation without any serious accidents. Each time the pontoons were pumped full, the cables tightened and the pontoons pumped out, the ship was brought a meter closer to the surface. In a series of 18 lifts in August and September 1959,

17595-404: The sides of the sterncastle, collapsed fairly quickly and were found lying almost directly below their original locations. Human activity was the most destructive factor, as the initial salvage efforts, the recovery of the guns, and the final salvage in the 20th century all left their marks. Peckell and Treileben broke up and removed much of the planking of the weather deck to get to the cannons on

17748-434: The smaller 12-pounders. The final decision, though, was a total of 56 24-pounders distributed over the two gun-decks. Not every one of these guns had been delivered by the time she sailed, with some empty gun carriages being aboard at the time of the sinking. Vasa was an early example of a warship with two full gun decks, and was built when the theoretical principles of shipbuilding were still poorly understood. Two gundecks

17901-440: The standing rigging of a 17th-century ship needed much more adjustment than a more modern sailing vessel. As was the custom with warships at the time, Vasa was decorated with sculptures intended to glorify the authority, wisdom and martial prowess of the monarch and also to deride, taunt and intimidate the enemy. The sculptures made up a considerable part of the effort and cost of building the ship. The symbolism used in decorating

18054-478: The start of the 20th century, when Britain launched the Royal Navy 's all-big-gun battleship Dreadnought in 1906. Powered by steam turbines , it was bigger, faster and more heavily gunned than any existing battleships , which it immediately rendered obsolete. It was rapidly followed by similar ships in other countries. The Royal Navy also developed the first battlecruisers . Mounting the same heavy guns as

18207-434: The summer of 1626 he had handed over supervision of the work in the yard to another Dutch shipwright, Henrik "Hein" Jacobsson . He died in the spring of 1627, probably about the same time as the ship was launched. After launching, work continued on finishing the upper deck, the sterncastle, the beakhead and the rigging. Sweden had still not developed a sizeable sailcloth industry, and material had to be ordered from abroad. In

18360-467: The time. However, Vasa did not fall completely into obscurity after the recovery of the guns. The ship was mentioned in several histories of Sweden and the Swedish Navy, and the location of the wreck appeared on harbor charts of Stockholm in the 19th century. In 1844, the navy officer Anton Ludwig Fahnehjelm turned in a request for salvaging rights to the ship, claiming he had located her. Fahnehjelm

18513-405: The top. The top and topgallant masts were both salvaged soon after the sinking while most of the lower sections of the main- and foremasts largely survived to be salvaged in modern times. The mizzen mast consisted of only two sections, a mizzen which stepped on the upper gundeck followed by a mizzen topmast. The bowsprit was stepped against the front of the lower foremast through the bowsprit bitts,

18666-399: The towns of Nowy and Brodnica . Hetman Koniecpolski counterattacked by using his small forces most efficiently — fast cavalry melee attacks combined with the supporting fire of infantry and artillery, and using fortifications and terrain advantage . By that time the war had become a war of maneuver, with neither side willing to face the other without advantages of terrain or fortifications. It

18819-491: The two was an increase in the width of Äpplet by about a meter (3.1 ft). The wreck of Äpplet , visibly very similar to Vasa , was found in December 2021. Äpplet , and other ships, are believed ultimately to have been decommissioned and sunk as underwater barriers against enemy ships. The 17th century name of the ship was Vasen after the heraldic symbol on the coat of arms of the House of Vasa . The word " vase " in

18972-400: The upper sterncastle, probably in the 19th century. Construction work in Stockholm harbor usually entails blasting of bedrock, and the resulting tonnes of rubble were often dumped in the harbor; some of this landed on the ship, causing further damage to the stern and the upper deck. In the early 1950s, amateur archaeologist Anders Franzén considered the possibility of recovering wrecks from

19125-400: The vast spaces was given to moving cavalry rather than infantry and artillery. It was not until the wars with Sweden, and especially the operations in Prussia, where the country was relatively densely dotted with towns that could provide an operational base for the operations, that the shortcomings in the quantity of artillery and the amount and training of infantry were highlighted. An army that

19278-428: The water, so that some are barely recognizable. Objects which fell off the hull into the mud after the nails corroded through were well protected, so that many of the sculptures still retain areas of paint and gilding. Of the human remains, most of the soft tissue was consumed, leaving only the bones, which were often held together only by clothing, although in one case, hair, nails and brain tissue survived. The parts of

19431-483: The years before World War I. In the 333 years that Vasa lay on the bottom of Stockholm harbor (called Stockholms ström , "the Stream", in Swedish), the ship and her contents were subject to several destructive forces, first among which were decomposition and erosion. Among the first things to decompose were the thousands of iron bolts that held the beakhead and much of the sterncastle together, and this included all of

19584-524: Was a miserable year for Swedish occupying garrison troops, with epidemics wiping out huge numbers of men and horses. On 2 February, while King Gustavus Adolphus was wintering in Sweden and Hetman Koniecpolski was away in Warsaw, the Polish forces were badly defeated at the Battle of Górzno , where a Swedish force under Field Marshal Herman Wrangel encountered a Polish army under Stanisław Potocki . The Poles suffered 1,500 dead and wounded plus 500 captured;

19737-431: Was a much more complicated compromise between seaworthiness and firepower than a single gundeck. The overall weight distribution, particularly the hull itself, was too top-heavy. This underlying fault was not possible to correct merely by adding more ballast and might have even required a major redesign to correct. Safety margins during the 17th century were also far below anything that would be acceptable today. Combined with

19890-526: Was also keen to end the fighting in Prussia, as he was in a hurry to join the battles being fought in Germany and assist the Protestant camp, which was experiencing serious difficulties following the defeat of King Christian IV of Denmark at Wallachia . France and England were also interested in involving Sweden in the fight against the Habsburgs . Brandenburg diplomacy acted similarly. In addition to

20043-427: Was an inventor who designed an early form of light diving suit and had previously been involved in other salvage operations. There were dives made on the wreck in 1895–1896, and a commercial salvage company applied for a permit to raise or salvage the wreck in 1920, but this was turned down. In 1999, a witness also claimed that his father, a petty officer in the Swedish navy, had taken part in diving exercises on Vasa in

20196-405: Was armed with powerful guns and built with a high stern, which would act as a firing platform in boarding actions for some of the 300 soldiers she was supposed to carry, but the high-sided hull and narrow upper deck were not optimized for boarding. She was neither the largest ship ever built, nor the one carrying the greatest number of guns. What made her arguably the most powerful warship of the time

20349-420: Was better able to construct and capture field fortifications had better control over the conquered area. Koniecpolski's ad hoc reforms could not in a short time make up for the neglect in this area since the time of Batory. The state, which had been at war on many fronts for a long time, showed serious financial shortcomings, which were greatly exacerbated by the blockade of Polish ports by the Swedish navy. Without

20502-414: Was composed primarily of small to medium-sized ships with a single gundeck, normally armed with 12-pounder and smaller cannons; these ships were cheaper than larger ships and were well-suited for escort and patrol. They also suited the prevailing tactical thinking within the navy, which emphasized boarding as the decisive moment in a naval battle rather than gunnery. The king, who was a keen artillerist, saw

20655-477: Was drawn into battle on 27 June 1629 at Honigfeld (t) or Honigfelde near Stuhm, in an action known to the Poles as the Battle of Trzciana . In this encounter, while attempting to cover the withdrawal of his infantry, Swedish cavalry were subjected to a series of fierce engagements at the villages of Honigfeldt, Straszewo and Pułkowice . With the aid of Arnim's heavy cuirassiers the Poles with their faster 'winged' hussars and cossack mercenaries were able to gain

20808-538: Was forced to conclude another truce with Sweden in Sztumska Wieś , this time for a period of 26 years. Under the terms of the treaty, the Swedes were to abandon all strongholds in Pomerania and Ducal Prussia and cease collecting customs duties from Polish ports. In Inflants, both sides remained in possession, but the Swedes were to allow Catholics religious freedoms in the part they occupied. In addition, Lithuania

20961-720: Was forced to withdraw from several strategic strongholds in Polish Prussia : in time he managed to recapture the seaport of Putzig (now Puck ). The Swedish king returned to Polish Prussia with substantial reinforcements in May, and marched south towards Graudenz (Grudziądz) hoping to cut-off Arnim's newly arrived imperial corps before it could join Koniecpolski. He was unsuccessful, and while withdrawing north towards Swedish garrisons in Stuhm ( Sztum ) and Marienburg ( Malbork ) he

21114-488: Was lightly wounded while attempting a night-crossing of the River Vistula in a boat near ( Kieżmark ), south of Danzig ( Gdańsk ), and had to retreat. In July he led a force to lift the siege of Braniewo , and lay siege to Orneta (Wormditt). Hetman Koniecpolski responded with the sudden attack and capture of Gniew. Gustavus Adolphus was reported to have been impressed by the speed of Koniecpolski's reaction. Later at

21267-408: Was made possible by a succession of able monarchs and the establishment of a powerful centralized government, supporting a highly efficient military organization. Swedish historians have described this as one of the more extreme examples of an early modern state using almost all of its available resources to wage war; the small northern kingdom transformed itself into a fiscal-military state and one of

21420-490: Was not fully utilized by the Swedish navy until later in the 17th century. The made mast used for Vasa was most likely supplied by Amsterdam-based merchants who dominated the European timber market at the time. Blocks , or pulleys, are a means of redirecting the path of a rope or providing a mechanical advantage, either on its own or in combination with other blocks, to increase the force applied. The majority of blocks have

21573-460: Was not merely that an unusually large number of guns were crammed into a relatively small ship, but also that the 46 main 24-pounder guns were of a new and standardized lightweight design. These were cast in a single series at the state gun foundry in Stockholm, under the direction of the Swiss-born founder Medardus Gessus. Two additional 24-pounders, of a heavier and older design, were mounted in

21726-411: Was one of the biggest impediments to the earliest attempts at recovery. Salvaging technology in the early 17th century was much more primitive than today, but the recovery of ships used roughly the same principles as were used to raise Vasa more than 300 years later. Two ships or hulks were placed parallel to either side above the wreck, and ropes attached to several anchors were sent down and hooked to

21879-497: Was organized by the Swedish Privy Council to find those responsible for the disaster, but in the end no one was punished. During the 1961 recovery, thousands of artifacts and the remains of at least 15 people were found in and around Vasa ' s hull by marine archaeologists . Among the many items found were clothing, weapons, cannons, tools, coins, cutlery, food, drink and six of the ten sails. The artifacts and

22032-404: Was outmaneuvered and defeated by a Polish force and two large ships were lost. Tigern ("The Tiger"), which was the Swedish admiral's flagship, was captured by the Poles, and Solen ("The Sun") was blown up by her own crew when she was boarded and nearly captured. In 1628, three more large ships were lost in less than a month. Admiral Klas Fleming 's flagship Kristina was wrecked in a storm in

22185-481: Was placed on a ship that was quite small relative to the armament carried. By comparison, USS  Constitution , a frigate built by the United States 169 years after Vasa , had roughly the same firepower, but was over 700 tonnes (690 long tons ; 770 short tons ) heavier. The Constitution , however, belonged to a later era of naval warfare that employed the line of battle tactic, where ships fought in

22338-456: Was responsible for a considerable number of the sculptures. These include some of the most important and prestigious pieces: the figurehead lion, the royal coat of arms, and the sculpture of the king at the top of the transom. Two of the other styles are described as "elegant ... a little stereotyped and manneristic", and of a "heavy, leisurely but nevertheless rich and lively style", respectively. The fourth and last style, deemed clearly inferior to

22491-632: Was salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961. She was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet ("The Vasa Shipyard") until 1988 and then moved permanently to the Vasa Museum in the Royal National City Park in Stockholm. As the most visited museum in Scandinavia, the ship is one of Sweden's most popular tourist attractions and has been seen by over 45 million visitors since 1961. Since her recovery, Vasa has become

22644-510: Was shot in the shoulder by a Polish sniper, the Swedes decided to end the assault and withdrew from the field, reportedly in good order. Stanislaw Koniecpolski decided to take the war to the seas and gathered a small Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy of 9 ships, mostly with aid from the City of Danzig. He defeated a Swedish flotilla on 27 or 28 November 1627 (in the New Style calendar), at

22797-423: Was substantially modified after the keel was laid. Ships contemporary to Vasa that were elongated were cut in half and new timbers spliced between the existing sections, making the addition readily identifiable, but no such addition can be identified in the hull, nor is there any evidence for any late additions of a second gundeck. The king ordered seventy-two 24-pound guns for the ship on 5 August 1626, and this

22950-444: Was the combined weight of shot that could be fired from the cannons of one side: 588 pounds (267 kg), excluding stormstycken , guns used for firing anti-personnel ammunition instead of solid shot. This was the largest concentration of artillery in a single warship in the Baltic at the time, perhaps in all of northern Europe, and it was not until the 1630s that a ship with more firepower was built. This large amount of naval artillery

23103-568: Was the introduction of the Kriegsmarine 's largest vessels, Bismarck and Tirpitz . Bismarck was heavily damaged and sunk/scuttled after a series of sea battles in the north Atlantic in 1941, while Tirpitz was destroyed by the Royal Air Force in 1944. The British Royal Navy gained dominance of the European theatre by 1943. The Second World War brought massive changes in the design and role of several types of warships. For

23256-484: Was the result of a combination of factors. The king, who was leading the army in Poland at the time of her maiden voyage, was impatient to see her take up her station as flagship of the reserve squadron at Älvsnabben in the Stockholm Archipelago . At the same time the king's subordinates lacked the political courage to openly discuss the ship's problems or to have the maiden voyage postponed. An inquiry

23409-474: Was too many to fit on a single gun deck. Since the king's order was issued less than five months after construction started, it would have come early enough for the second deck to be included in the design. The French Galion du Guise , the ship used as a model for Vasa , according to Arendt de Groote, also had two gun decks. Laser measurements of Vasa's structure conducted in 2007–2011 confirmed that no major changes were implemented during construction, but that

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