Action of 9 September 1796 1796
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 9 September 1796 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1796 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Indonesia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | French Revolutionary Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 5.5500, 95.8500 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The action of 9 September 1796 was an inconclusive minor naval engagement between small French Navy and British Royal Navy squadrons off northwestern Sumatra, near Banda Aceh, during the French Revolutionary Wars. The French squadron comprised six frigates engaged in commerce raiding against British trade routes passing through captured parts of the Dutch East Indies, and posed a considerable threat to the weakened British naval forces in the region. The British force consisted of two 74-gun ships of the line hastily paired to oppose the eastward advance of the French squadron.
The French squadron, commanded by Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey, had left its base on Île de France in July and cruised off Ceylon and Tranquebar before sailing eastwards. Its movement had so far been unopposed, as British forces in the East Indies were concentrated at Simon's Town in the west and Malacca in the east. After raiding the shipping at Banda Aceh on 1 September the squadron sailed eastwards to attack Penang. On 8 September, while the French were removing supplies from a captured British merchant ship east of Banda Aceh, two large sails were spotted.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action of 9 September 1796 (revision 1370426827), 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
- Action of 18 November 1809 1809 · 359 km
Other battles of the French Revolutionary Wars
- Action of 22 August 1795 1795
- Action of 24 June 1795 1795
- Battle of Genoa (1795) 1795
- Battle of Groix 1795
- Battle of the Hyères Islands 1795
- Battle of Borghetto 1796
- Battle of Caldiero (1796) 1796
- Battle of Calliano 1796
- Battle of Castiglione 1796
- Battle of Ettlingen 1796
All 81 battles of the French Revolutionary Wars →
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