English Admiral John Byng was the first and last man of that rank executed by the Royal Navy, one of 15 (!) children of an ennobled admiral. He’d been 40 years at sea himself, a competent, forgettable senior officer unburdened by genius.
The official birthday of the United States Navy is October 13, 1775. But America’s naval history dates all the way back to the pilgrims who first settled the New World; after all, they had to get there somehow.
The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the American War of Independence. This was the largest action fought during the war in terms of numbers, particularly the Grand Assault of 18 September 1782. It was the longest siege endured by the British Armed Forces.
Eventually on 13 September 1782 the Bourbon allies launched their great attack; 5190 fighting men both French and Spanish aboard ten of the newly engineered 'floating batteries' with 138 heavy guns, as well as 18 ships of the line, 40 Spanish gunboats and 20 bomb-vessels with a total of 30,000 sailors and marines. They were supported by 86 land guns and 35,000 Spanish and French troops (7,000–8,000 French) on land intending to assault the fortifications once they had been demolished. An 'army' of over 80,000 spectators thronged the adjacent hills over the Spanish border, among them the highest families in the land, assembled to see the fortress beaten to powder and 'the British flag trailed in the dust'. The 138 guns opened fire from floating batteries in the Bay and the 86 guns on the land side, directed on the fortifications after weeks of preparatory artillery fire. But the garrison replied with red-hot shot to set fire to and sink the attacker's floating batteries and warships in the Bay. In that great conflict, the British destroyed three of the floating batteries, which blew up as the 'red-hot shot' did its job. The other seven batteries were scuttled by the Spanish because they were too heavily damaged to continue the fight. In addition 719 men on board the ships (many of whom drowned) were casualties.
The “Glorious First of June” was a major victory of the British forces over those of the French, perhaps the first major naval victory of Britain's fight against Revolutionary France.
The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was one of the most important naval battles of the early Napoleonic War, one which led to Admiral Sir John Jervis being created Earl St. Vincent (the very same Lord St. Vincent who figures in some aspects of the Aubrey/Maturin series).
The mutinies were potentially dangerous for Britain, and there were concerns among some members of the British ruling class that the mutinies might be the trigger to a wider uprising similar to the French Revolution.
In England’s long struggle against Napoleon, the crowning naval achievement was the battle of Trafalgar. But nowhere were the odds longer, the element of surprise more important or the necessity for improvisation more acute than in Nelson’s victory over the French at the Nile.
The dangers inherent in operating wooden warships were demonstrated tragically on March 17 1800 off the Italian port of Livorno.
The Battle of Copenhagen was the second, and hardest fought, of Nelson’s three great naval victories. It was also where part of his legend was born thanks to his literally “turning a blind eye” on the signal to break off action.
“The Battle of Algeciras Bay” refers to two separate battles in July 1801 between an allied French-Spanish fleet and the British near Gibraltar. In the first battle, the French drove off an attack by the larger British fleet and captured one ship of the line. In the second battle, the British pursued the Franco-Spanish fleet, destroying two Spanish ships and capturing one French ship.
The explanation of this action contains spoilers for the Aubrey/Maturin series. Read more at your own risk! (It's awesome though.)
The Battle of Trafalgar was to witness both the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte’s plans to invade Britain, and the death of Admiral Lord Nelson. It was never going to be any ordinary battle, and quickly acquired a heightened, almost magical, reality.
If anything could have marred Britain’s joy at the outcome of the Battle of Trafalgar it was the escape of four French ships of the line. Part of the van of the Combined Fleets of France and Spain, they were well ahead of the point where HMS Victory broke the enemy line.
Despite the only French naval victory (during the Napoleonic Wars) of Battle of Grand Port on 19 and 20 August 1810 by a fleet commanded by Pierre Bouvet, Mauritius was captured on 3 December 1810 by the British under Commodore Josias Rowley. Their possession of the island was confirmed four years later by the Treaty of Paris (1814). French institutions, including the Napoleonic code of law, were maintained. The French language was at that moment still used more widely than English. Please note, the "View More" link contains spoilers for the Aubrey/Maturin novel "The Mauritius Command".
The War of 1812 did not start out precisely as Britain expected, by sea at any rate. Having spent the last two hundred or so years as the undisputed rulers of the ocean, Britain surely believed they’d be able to deal with the upstart Americans at sea as easily as they dealt with the French or Spanish.
If the Age of Sail has a specific expiration date, October 20th, 1827 is it. This is when the Battle of Navarino, the last battle ever to be fought entirely between sailing vessels, occurred.
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