Battle of Quiberon Bay

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Quiberon Bay
partof=Seven Years' War


caption="The Battle of Quiberon Bay", Nicholas Pocock, 1812. National Maritime Museum
date=November 20 1759
place=Quiberon Bay, Bay of Biscay
casus=
territory=
result=Decisive British victory
combatant1=flagicon|United Kingdom|1606 Kingdom of Great Britain
combatant2=flagicon|France|royal Kingdom of France
commander1=Sir Edward Hawke
commander2=Comte de Conflans
strength1=23 ships of the line
strength2=21 ships of the line
casualties1=Two ships of the line wrecked.
casualties2=Six ships of the line lost, one taken

The naval Battle of Quiberon Bay took place on 20 November 1759 during the Seven Years' War in Quiberon Bay, off the coast of France near St. Nazaire. The British Admiral Sir Edward Hawke with 23 ships of the line caught up with a French fleet with 21 ships of the line under Marshal de Conflans, and after hard fighting, sank, captured, or forced aground most of them, thus giving the Royal Navy one of its greatest victories.

Origins

During 1759, the French had made plans to invade England and Scotland, and had accumulated transports and troops around the Loire estuary. The August defeat at the Battle of Lagos made the invasion plans impossible, but Choiseul still contemplated a plan for Scotland, and so the fleet was under orders to escape from the British blockade outside Brest and make its way down to the Loire.

During the first week of November, a westerly gale came up, and after three days, the ships of Hawke's blockade were forced to run for Torbay on the south coast of England. In the meantime, a small squadron from the West Indies joined Conflans in Brest, and when an easterly wind came on the 14th, Conflans slipped out. But Hawke was already returning from Torbay, got the reports of Conflans's sailing, and went in pursuit.

Battle

::"See also Robert Duff"Hawke caught up with Conflans at dawn on the 20th, just as Conflans was about to enter the treacherous waters of Quiberon Bay. Hawke decided to follow them in, essentially relying on the lead of the French ships and their local pilots; a daring move made even more dangerous by a rising westerly storm.

The firing began at about 14:00, with the British van attacking the French rear just as they were rounding the Les Cardinaux rocks at the entrance to the bay. By 15:30, the French "Formidable" was captured, and "Superbe" had capsized, with tremendous loss of life. As more of the British fleet came up, "Héros", badly damaged already, struck her flag and ran aground, while "Thesee" lost her duel with "Torbay" and foundered.

The early nightfall of the season forced the British to break off their attack, and they anchored for the night. The British ships "Essex" and HMS|Resolution|1758|2 ran aground and were lost, but the fleet's presence forced the French to desperate measures; more of their ships also ran aground, including the flagship "Soleil Royal", which found itself amongst the British ships the next morning and hastily retreated. 7 ships squeezed over the bar into the estuary of the Vilaine River (where they stayed for over a year, 3 being wrecked there), leaving only eight to escape to Rochefort.

Aftermath

The power of the French fleet was broken, and would not recover before the war was over; in the words of Alfred Thayer Mahan ("The Influence of Sea Power upon History"), "The battle of 20 November 1759 was the Trafalgar of this war, and [...] the English fleets were now free to act against the colonies of France, and later of Spain, on a grander scale than ever before".

The rival fleets

France

Britain

ources and references

*Charnock, John Esq., "Biographia Navalis", Vols.5 & 6 (London 1798)
*Clowes, W.L. (ed.). "The Royal Navy; A History, from the Earliest Times to the Present", Volume III. (London 1898).
*Jenkins, E.H. "A History of the French Navy" (London 1973).
*Mackay, R.F. "Admiral Hawke" (Oxford 1965).
*Marcus, G. "Quiberon Bay; The Campaign in Home Waters, 1759" (London, 1960).
*Tunstall, Brian and Tracy, Nicholas (ed.). "Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail. The Evolution of Fighting Tactics, 1650-1815" (London, 1990).
*1911

External links

* [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.1590/changeNav/3533 Royal Navy page on the battle]