Action of 24 October 1798 1798
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 24 October 1798 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1798 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Netherlands | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | French Revolutionary Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 53.0995, 4.8087 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The action of 24 October 1798 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought between a British Royal Navy frigate and two ships of the Batavian Navy. The Dutch ships were intercepted in the North Sea within hours of leaving port, 30 nautical miles (56 km) northwest of the Texel, by the British ship HMS Sirius. Both Dutch vessels were carrying large quantities of military supplies and French soldiers, reinforcements for the French and Irish forces participating in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Although the rebellion had been defeated a month earlier, word of the British victory had not yet reached the European continent, and the Dutch force was intended to supplement a larger French squadron sent earlier in October. The French had already been defeated at the Battle of Tory Island and the Dutch suffered a similar outcome, both ships defeated in turn by the larger and better armed British vessel.
Captain Richard King on Sirius discovered the Dutch ships early on 24 October, when they were separated by 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) and thus unable to mutually support one another. Targeting the smaller ship, Waakzaamheid, King was able to outrun her in an hour and force her to surrender without a fight.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action of 24 October 1798 (revision 1370426357), 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.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Texel 1673 · 15 km
- Battle of Texel (1694) 1694 · 15 km
- Capture of the Dutch fleet at Den Helder 1795 · 16 km
- Battle of Callantsoog 1799 · 29 km
- Battle of Krabbendam 1799 · 32 km
- Battle of the Afsluitdijk 1940 · 35 km
Other battles of the French Revolutionary Wars
- Action of 25 January 1797 1797
- Assault on Cádiz (1797) 1797
- Battle of Camperdown 1797
- Battle of Rivoli 1797
- Battle of Tarvis (1797) 1797
- Action of 14 December 1798 1798
- Action of 30 May 1798 1798
- Battle of Tory Island 1798
- Battle of the Pyramids 1798
- Battle of the Raz de Sein 1798
All 81 battles of the French Revolutionary Wars →
Browse more: battles in Netherlands · Europe · Early modern battles