1975 Holmegaard Ship's plate with motif of "Laaland" - Tordenskjold's Flagship Inscription: Linieskib Laaland
The Leeland was launched from Judichær's shipyard on 4th. June 1711 - the last ship of the line precedin the Great Northern war. With a crew of 400 men, the ship was one of the biggest ships in the Danish navy. The Leeland is no doubt best remembered as Tordenskjold's fladship during the operations against Buhusleen, but previous to that the ship had fought with brilliance in several famous actions. The most outstanding of these was the Battle of Kolberger Moor where because of the darkness, the vessel was parted from the rest of the Danish fleet and singlehanded took up the pursuit of the Swedish threedecker, the "Nordstärnan" which carried seventy six cannons against Leeland's fifty. In November 1716 Tordenskjold was given command of the whole of the North Sea Squadron, and in the following years he conducted his attacks against Gothenburg and Strømstad from the Leeland. In December 1718 Tordenskjold was in Norwegian waters on board the Leeland when he heard of the dead of King Karl XII. In spite of very unfavourable weather he managed to bring this very important news to Copenhagen in only fortyeight hours. For this feat he was promoted to Schoubynacht.