The Swedish screw battleship Stockholm in heavy seas, with small craft nearby

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Swedish Navy was very small and consisted mainly of pure sailing vessels only suited to coastal defence in sheltered waters; in a gesture towards modernity however, a solitary screw-powered capital ship was ordered in 1855 and given the name Stockholm. A traditional wooden-hulled three-masted two-decker, she was also fitted with an engine and propeller which gave her a speed of 6½ knots under full steam. Measured at 2,846 tons displacement, she carried a main armament of 60-30pounder cannon supplemented with 6-8.9in. shell-firing guns; hardly formidable by British or French standards, she was nevertheless the most impressive battleship of her day in Scandinavian waters when she was launched in 1856.