It was the largest naval engagement to be fought by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy and resulted in defeating a Swedish squadron led by Niels Stiernsköld that conducted a blockade of the harbour of Gdańsk.

[3]: 110 [4] The Swedes had a long tradition of seamanship and maintained a strong navy, and were able to land troops from the Swedish mainland at will along the southern Baltic shore.

On 28 November, a small, newly-formed Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth fleet, using purchased German ships and foreign (mainly Dutch) sailors, emerged from Gdańsk to defeat the Swedish blockading squadron.

The four surviving Swedish ships realized their situation, quickly headed towards the open sea, and managed to escape the pursuit.

The after action report on the battle for Sigismund III Vasa was prepared by Wolfgang von der Oelsnitz from the Royal Ship Commission, who also presented the king with the captured Swedish flags and the personal sword of Nils Stiernsköld.

A popular Polish saying states that on that day "the sun went down at noon", referring to the destruction of one of the Swedish ships, the Solen.