The Gunboatwar

From 1807-14, a war was fought out in Danish waters between British warships that purported to be defending British merchant ships, and small, Danish gunboats that were on the watch in sheltered bases along the coasts. Some of these bases had optical telegraphs that could keep them continuously informed of the position of the enemy, thereby helping to render the bases unsafe for the enemy.

Picture of a gunboat. Eckersberg. Orlogsmuseet.

The small, light gunboats made it possible to conduct a kind of guerrilla naval war against the much larger, more heavily armed British warships. The gunboats were able to manoeuvre irrespective of the wind and could thus place themselves in favourable positions in which they were difficult to hit . In tricky situations they could quickly sail into shallow waters, where the enemy could not follow them.