A a member of the Bille family, he rose to the rank of admiral and became a privy counselor during the period of Denmark-Norway's policy of "armed neutrality" following the Gunboat War.

Steen Andersen Bille became a cadet at the age of eleven, despite being of poor physique, having already experienced a trial voyage in the previous year.

In 1775 he had an independent armed command in the merchant ship Mercurius preventing smuggling to enforce control measures against an outbreak of Rinderpest (Cattle Plague) in Schleswig Holstein.

Bille was promoted to Commander on 18 October 1781 and he was immediately permitted to go on a trading voyage in the Danish East Indiaman Copenhagen, one of the poorest sailing ships the company owned.

As head of cadet training in the frigate Fredericksværn in 1795, he earned his students' undying loyalty by allowing them to eat all they wanted each day.

The Moors had until now been appeased with annual gifts of tribute, but Tripoli now declared war on Denmark, seizing a merchant ship – the Providentia from Bergen – and selling the crew into slavery.

Bille was given the task of solving the situation and he set sail in Najaden, arriving on 2 May in Malta, where the brig Sarpen and a hired armed xebec were waiting.

The ensuing peace treaty was favourable to the Danes, and Bille's squadron continued to provide naval cover for all Danish merchant ships in the Mediterranean.

Diplomacy was high on his agenda (he became the ambassador to Morocco), to protect Danish convoys and to negotiate with foreign warships and avoid conflict when they demanded inspection rights whilst maintaining Denmark-Norway's policy of armed neutrality.

His position was on the left, i.e. northern, end of the line, which included the ships-of-the-line Danmark and Trekroner, the frigate Iris, brigs Sarpen and Nidelven and a large contingent of gunboats – none of which saw serious action that day.

After the battle had been raging on the southern end for close on four hours, British Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves came north with his five ships of the line and three of them ran aground.

At the capitulation on 7 September 1807, Bille refused to append his signature and sought permission from the crown prince (later Frederick VI) to launch what would be a suicide attack with all available weapons.