Kronan 1676
Marker: recorded wreck position (Age of Sail).
Key facts
| Name | Kronan | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1676 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Age of Sail | derived from year |
| Ship type | ship of the line | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Foundered | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | Sweden | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Swedish Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | Scanian War | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | Baltic Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Sweden | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 20 km from land |
| Position | 56.4494, 16.6722 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
Kronan, also called Stora Kronan, was a Swedish warship that served as the flagship of the Swedish Navy in the Baltic Sea in the 1670s. When built, the ship was one of the largest seagoing vessels in the world. The construction of Kronan lasted from 1668 to 1672 and was delayed by difficulties with financing and conflicts between the shipwright Francis Sheldon and the Swedish admiralty. After four years of service, the ship sank in rough weather at the Battle of Öland on 1 June 1676: while making a sharp turn under too much sail she capsized, and the gunpowder magazine ignited and blew off most of the bow. Kronan sank quickly, taking about 800 men and more than 100 guns with her, along with valuable military equipment, weapons, personal items, and large quantities of silver and gold coins.
The loss of Kronan was a heavy blow for Sweden during the Scanian War. Besides being the largest and most heavily armed ship in the Swedish Navy, she had been an important status symbol for the monarchy of the young Charles XI.
Diving & visiting
The marine engineer and amateur historian Anders Franzén had searched for old Swedish wrecks in the Baltic since the 1940s and became nationally renowned after he located Vasa in 1956. Kronan was one of several famous shipwrecks on a list of potential wreck sites that he had compiled. For almost 30 years Franzén and others scoured archives and probed the seabed off the east coast of Öland. During the 1950s and 1960s the team searched off Hulterstad by dragging, and later followed up with sonar scans. In 1971 planks believed to belong to Kronan were located, but the lead could not be followed up properly at the time.
Location
- Recorded position: 56.4494, 16.6722 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Baltic Sea
- Nearest coast: Sweden
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Kronan (ship) (revision 1357330113), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Rediscovery”; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- Finnbirch 49 km
- Mars 1564 · 87 km
- Swiks 1906 · 104 km
- U-583 1941 · 128 km
- U-649 1943 · 138 km
- German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin 1947 · 144 km
Browse more: Europe wrecks · wrecks off Sweden · Baltic Sea · Age of Sail