An invasion force of nine Russian merchant ships left Liepāja and landed 22 April, after losing its course due to fog, at Slesviken in Grötlingbo on south Gotland with 1,800 men and six artillery guns under the command of Admiral Nikolai Andreevich Bodisko.

After some initial confusion, beacons raised an invasion alarm which eventually reached the county governor, the retired marine officer Erik af Klint.

The two Swedish ships of the line Tapperheten [sv] and Manligheten were sent from Karlskrona and blockaded the harbor of Slite beginning 12 May, hampering the possibility of Russian reinforcements.

A Swedish relief expedition under the command of Admiral Rudolf Cederström was dispatched from Karlskrona on 11 May with the ships of the line Konung Gustav IV Adolph [sv], Vladislaff [sv], Prins Fredrik Adolph and Äran, the frigate Bellona 5, the brigantines Svala and Disa and the yacht Fortuna.

The only loss associated with the Russian occupation was boatsman Carl Fredrik Lindgren (1777–1808), who fell to his death from the rigging of the flagship, Konung Gustav IV Adolph, at Sandviken.