The Royal Navy and the French Wars, 1793-1815 Flashcards
How did Admiral Hood seize Toulon?
Aug 1793, French royalist counterrevolutionaries handed over the major French naval base and arsenal to the Anglo-Spanish fleet
What were the events after Admiral Hood acquired Toulon?
- British fleet seized over 70 French ships (almost half of the French navy)
- Sept 1793, French Republicans surrounded the port and began a siege
- Dec 1793, the British were attacked (Napoleon bayonetted in the thigh)
How did Admiral Hood’s seizure of Toulon end?
- 18th Dec 1793, guns in the fort turned inwards to fire on the British fleet
–> Admiral Hood immediately evacuated the inner harbour - the British and Spanish blew up the French arsenal, burned 42 French ships, and helped French royalists escape
How did the Glorious First of June begin?
- 1794, the British Chanel fleet under Admiral Howe tried to intercept a US grain convoy to Brest, escorted by the French Atlantic Fleet under Rear Admiral Villaret Joyeuse
- 28th May, the two fleets saw each other, Villaret-Joyeuse detached his convoy to the south while luring Howe to the north
–> sporadic fighting in mist weather for the next few days
What were the events of the Glorious First of June?
- 1st June 1794, sunshine; Howe engaged the French 400 miles west of Ouessant
- the French had 26 ships of the line while the British had 25
–> 7 British ships broke the French line and disorganised their fleet, capturing 6 ships and sinking 1
What was the outcome of the Glorious First of June?
- 7,000 French sailors were killed or taken prisoner
- 1,200 British casualties
- British victory BUT the grain convoy still reached French and averted a famine
When did Jervis become commender of the Mediterranean fleet?
1795, replaced Sir Admiral Hood as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean fleet
–> introduced a series of reforms 1795-1799 that averted mutiny among seamen and officers alike
When did Spain switch sides?
- French won the Battle of Black Mountain (Nov 1794) and forced Spain and Prussia to sign the Peace of Basel 1795
–> forced to exit coalition with Britain - 1796, France made massive gains in the Rhine and the Italian Campaigns
–> Spanish PM, Manuel Godoy, signed the second Treaty of San Ildefonso = created a Spanish-Franco alliance
When did the Netherlands switch sides?
1796, joined France against Britain
How did the Battle of Cape St. Vincent begin?
1797, 15 British ships set sail across Portugal’s Atlantic coast to search for a Spanish convoy
- 11th Feb 1797, Nelson was sailing with a ship to reinforce Jervis and coincidentally sailed through a Spanish fleet of 27 ships in the mist
What were the events of the Battle of Cape St. Vincent?
- 14th Feb 1797, in the morning the British attacked the Spanish fleet with the advantage of surprise
- As Spanish sailed in 2 divisions, Jervis had planned to cut between the two and destroy one before the other could help –> impossible as British couldn’t turn fast enough before second Spanish squadron closed in
- without orders, Nelson hauled out of line and attacked the head of the second Spanish division, while the rest of Jervis’ fleet turned and came up in support
What was the outcome of the Battle of Cape St. Vincent?
- Nelson held the two Spanish squadrons apart; fighting 7 ships at once, boarding and capturing 2 enemy man-of-wars
- Jervis was awarded with the Earldom of St. Vincent
- Nelson was knighted
How did the Spithead Mutinies start?
16th April - 15th May 1797, sailors on 16 ships in the Chanel Fleet under Admiral Bridport protested against living conditions
–> demanded pay rise, better victualling, more shore leave, injury/sickness compensation
How did the Spithead Mutinies unfold?
- petition given to Admiralty but legislation took time to pass through government
–> 7th May 1797, new mutiny by petty officers - mutineers were led by elected delegates who negotiated with the admiralty for 2 weeks
How did the Spithead Mutinies end? (4)
1797
Admiral Lord Howe;
- pardoned all crews
- reassigned some unpopular officers
- gave a pay rise
- abolished the purser’s pound
How did the Nore mutiny start?
12th May 1797
- inspired by Spithead mutinies
- chief delegate proposed list of demands, including peace with France, veto power over officers, longer leave, pardons for all deserters
= more serious
How did the Nore mutiny unfold?
- mutineers were joined by the North Sea Fleet
- mutineers then attempted to blockade the Thames, refusing entry to merchant ships
- Pitt’s gov. tried to isolate and starve the mutineers
How did the Nore mutiny end?
- ended mid-June 1797, moderate sailors took control from the more radical ones
- Admiralty offered pardons and the same concessions as given at Spithead
- 29 seamen hanged
- 29 imprisoned
- 9 flogged
- some transported to Australia
- most not punished
How did the Battle of Camperdown start?
11th Oct 1797
Admiral Lord Duncan’s North Sea Fleet (16 ships of the line) met a similar number of Dutch ships off of the Dutch coast
How did the Battle of Camperdoen unfold/end?
- two uneven divisions of British ships smashed the enemy line
- captured 11 battleships and 3 frigates
- no British ships were lost
How did the Battle of the Nile begin?
- May 1798, Napoleon left Toulon for Egypt
- Nelson guessed that the French were sailing for Egypt
- 29th June 1798, Nelson arrived at Alexandria and left the next day
- 1st July 1798, French arrived
How did the Battle of the Nile unfold?
1st Aug 1798, Nelson found the French anchored in Aboukir Bay
–> Nelson gave battle, despite late time of day (unconventional)
- French devastated by British gunnery
How did the Battle of the Nile end?
1798
- fight continued through the night
- only 2/13 French ships escaped
- immense British victory
How did the Battle of Copenhagen begin?
1801
- Admiral Sir Hyde Parker (old) was given command of the British Baltic Fleet, Nelson second-in-command
- given orders to sail to Copenhagen and force Danes into concessions or destroy their fleet, then attack Russian Navy
–> Parker gave Nelson task of leading the attack on Copenhagen
