Jun 15 — Stupid Ship Strategy
On June 15th, 1184, Norwegian King Magnus Erlingsson was killed in battle because he tied all of his ships together for some stupid reason.
Alright, I don’t deign to be a master of naval warfare (though I have won my fair share of games in Age of Empires…), but I’m pretty sure that tying all of your ships together is NOT a great strategy.
Let’s set the stage:
Sigurd Jorsalfar ruled as King of Norway for nearly 30 years and gained fame for leading a Norwegian Crusade. Upon his death however, the entire country was thrust into civil war for the next 110 years (not really a “successful reign” if the kingdom falls apart after you…).
In 1156, Sigurd’s daughter gave birth to Magnus Erlingsson, who was crowed King of Norway at age five. Since he was so young, Magnus’ father, Erling Skakke, acted as ruler until Magnus came of age (then they ruled together). The next 20 years were marred by uprisings, false kings, and wars at home and abroad.
Just classic Viking stuff.
But in June of 1177 Sverre Sigurdsson declared himself King of Norway…which didn’t sit well with Erling and Magnus. After two years of fighting, in 1179, Erling fell in battle, which meant Magnus was left to rule (and fight) alone.
Another five years later, and we finally arrive at our main event.
Exactly 834 years ago today, Magnus found his fleet opposite Sverre off the coast of Norway. While Magnus had the upper hand in number of ships (26 vs 14), Sverre had the biggest one, a massive boat named Mariasuda.
(Plus, apparently Magnus was terrible with strategy).
For who-knows-what reason, Magnus decided to tie all of his ships together. Which (not surprisingly) didn’t turn out to be a great plan.
As the Mariasuda did its part by taking up most of Magnus’ attention, Sverre sent his other ships into battle in waves (ha, get it?), attacking and overwhelming the outermost ships of Magnus’ line.
As each one of Magnus’ ships became overwhelmed, the remaining men jumped onto the next ship in line. Unfortunately this meant the remaining ships kept getting more and more crowded… until finally they began sinking under the weight of the men.
As the last ships sank, King Magnus went down and was never seen again.
(All exactly according to plan, I’m sure).
Sadly for Sverre, this decisive victory over his enemy was not the end of his troubles. Three men came forth, stating that they were the sons of Magnus, and the Norwegian Civil War continued another 56 years, into 1240.
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Originally published at http://www.todaywasterrible.com on June 16, 2019.
