Peter Tordenskjold

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Peter Jansen Wessel Tordenskiold (28 October 1690 – 12 November 1720) was a Norwegian naval officer and Vice-Admiral of the Royal Dano-Norwegian fleet during the Great Northern War. Born in Trondheim, he travelled to Copenhagen in 1704 and eventually joined the navy, rising to the rank of vice-admiral. In 1716, his courage and audacity had earned him both renown and ennoblement. Frederick IV of Denmark-Norway crowned the distinction by conferring upon him the name of Tordenskiold ("Thunder Shield"), by which posterity has chiefly known him. His greatest exploit came later that year, when he captured almost the entire transport fleet of the Swedish Navy at the Battle of Dynekilen, fought against the backdrop of the First Norwegian Campaign and concurrent preparations for a joint Russian-Danish crossing of Øresund. The Norwegian national regiments had brought the Swedish advance to a standstill early in the Campaign, and successive reverses had since then compelled the Swedish army to conduct a fighting retreat towards the frontier. Charles XII of Sweden nevertheless refused to abandon the campaign until Tordenskiold's daring raid extinguished the last realistic prospect of the Swedes regrouping and resuming the offensive from Norwegian territory. Still only in his twenties, Tordenskiold reached the pinnacle of his career after Dynekilen. Promoted to vice admiral, he crowned his wartime service with the capture of Marstrand and the vital maritime stronghold of Carlsten. Less than a year later, however, the meteoric rise of Peter Tordenskiold ended abruptly when he was killed in a duel near Hanover.