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Action of 13 March 1806 1806

Action of 13 March 1806: The London Man of War capturing the Marengo Admiral Linois, 13 March 1806
Image: C. I. W., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.

Key facts

Date13 March 1806Wikidata
Year1806Wikidata P585 (point in time)
Era19th century (1800–1913)derived from year
Nearest landmassAt sea (nearest continent: Islands & open ocean)Natural Earth (modern borders)
ContinentIslands & open oceanNatural Earth
War / conflictNapoleonic WarsWikidata P361
ParticipantsFrance, United Kingdom of Great Britain and IrelandWikidata P710
Coordinates26.2667, -29.4167Wikidata P625

About the battle

The action of 13 March 1806 was a naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, fought when a British and a French squadron met unexpectedly in the mid-Atlantic. Neither force was aware of the presence of the other prior to the encounter and were participating in separate campaigns. The British squadron consisted of seven ships of the line accompanied by associated frigates, led by Vice-Admiral of the Blue Sir John Borlase Warren, were tasked with hunting down and destroying the French squadron of Counter-admiral Jean-Baptiste Philibert Willaumez, which had departed Brest for raiding operations in the South Atlantic in December 1805, at the start of the Atlantic campaign of 1806. The French force consisted of one ship of the line and one frigate, all that remained of Counter-admiral Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois' squadron that had sailed for the Indian Ocean in March 1803 during the Peace of Amiens. Linois raided British shipping lanes and harbours across the region, achieving limited success against undefended merchant ships but repeatedly withdrawing in the face of determined opposition, most notably at the Battle of Pulo Aura in February 1804.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action of 13 March 1806 (revision 1370425906), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.

Location

26.2667, -29.4167 · At sea

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