Kronan (ship)

Reconstruction by Jacob Hägg, 1909
History
Sweden
Name	Kronan
Namesake	Royal crown of Sweden
Builder	Francis Sheldon, Stockholm
Laid down	October 1665
Launched	31 July 1668
Commissioned	1672
Fate	Sunk at the Battle of Öland, 1 June 1676
General characteristics
Type	Ship of the line
Displacement	2,300 tonnes (approximate)
Length	53 m (174 ft)
Beam	12.9 m (42 ft)
Height	66 m (217 ft, keel to mast)
Draft	6.2–6.8 m (20–22 ft)
Sail plan	ship rig
Troops	300 soldiers
Complement	500 sailors
Armament	Planned for 126 guns from 6 to 36 pounds Actual armament c. 105–114 guns

Kronan, also called Stora Kronan,^[1] was a Swedish warship that served as the flagship of the Swedish Navy in the Baltic Sea in the 1670s. When built, she 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 foundered 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 hard 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. Along with Kronan, the navy lost a sizeable proportion of its best manpower, acting supreme commander Lorentz Creutz, numerous high-ranking fleet officers, and the chief of the navy medical staff. A commission was set up to investigate whether any individuals could be held responsible for the defeat at the Battle of Öland and other major defeats during the war.

Most of the guns that sank with Kronan were salvaged in the 1680s, but eventually the wreck fell into obscurity. Its exact position was rediscovered in 1980 by the amateur researcher Anders Franzén, who had also located the 17th-century warship Vasa in the 1950s. Yearly diving operations have since surveyed and excavated the wreck site and salvaged artifacts, and Kronan has become the most widely publicized shipwreck in the Baltic after Vasa. More than 30,000 artifacts have been recovered, and many have been conserved and put on permanent public display at the Kalmar County Museum in Kalmar. The museum is responsible for the maritime archaeological operations and the permanent exhibitions on Kronan.