Action of 30 May 1798 1798
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 30 May 1798 – 31 May 1798 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1798 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | French Revolutionary Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | France, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 49.3194, -0.1139 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The action of 30 May 1798 was a minor naval engagement between a small British squadron and a small French squadron off the coast of Normandy, France during the French Revolutionary Wars. A British blockading force, which had been conducting patrols in the region in the aftermath of the battle of St Marcou earlier in the month, encountered two French vessels attempting to sail unnoticed between Le Havre and Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. Closing with the French, the British commander Sir Francis Laforey sought to bring the French ships to battle as they attempted to turn back to Le Havre before the British squadron could attack. The French were unable to escape, and Laforey's ship, the fifth rate HMS Hydra, engaged the French corvette Confiante, while two smaller British ships chased the Vésuve.
After a brief exchange of fire, their crews ran both French ships onshore close to the mouth of the river Dives, where several of the landing barges that had survived the attack on the British-held Îles Saint-Marcouf were sheltering. Confiante was badly damaged and boarding parties from Hydra and the other ships were able to board and burn her the following morning.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action of 30 May 1798 (revision 1370426599), 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
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- Battle of Douvres Radar Station 1944 · 21 km
- Le Havre raid 1759 · 23 km
- Battle for Caen 1944 · 23 km
- Operation Cycle 1940 · 24 km
- Siege of Caen (1450) 1450 · 24 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 24 October 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 France · Europe · Early modern battles