Battle of Camperdown 1797
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 11 October 1797 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1797 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: Europe) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | French Revolutionary Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Batavian Republic, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 52.7500, 4.2000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Camperdown (Dutch: Zeeslag bij Kamperduin) was fought on 11 October 1797 between the Royal Navy's North Sea Fleet under Admiral of the Blue Adam Duncan and a Batavian Navy fleet led by Vice-admiral Jan Willem de Winter. Duncan's fleet won a complete victory over de Winter's in what was the most significant engagement between British and Batavian forces during the French Revolutionary Wars, capturing eleven ships without losing any of their own.
In 1795, the Dutch Republic was overrun by France and reorganised into the Batavian Republic, a French sister republic. After several French Navy campaigns ended in disaster, the Batavian navy was ordered to move to Brest in 1797. This rendezvous never occurred, as the French and their allies failed to capitalise on the Spithead and Nore mutinies that paralysed the British Channel and North Sea fleets in the spring of 1797. By September, the Batavian navy was blockaded in the Texel by the North Sea Fleet under Duncan, though the British were forced to return to Yarmouth for supplies in October. De Winter used the opportunity to lead the Batavian fleet into the North Sea; when they returned to the Dutch coast on 11 October, a waiting Duncan intercepted them off Camperduin.
Attacking the Batavian line of battle in two groups, Duncan's ships broke through its rear and van before engaging with de Winter's frigates.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Camperdown (revision 1378738547), 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.
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Other battles of the French Revolutionary Wars
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- Battle of Würzburg 1796
- Second Battle of Kehl (1796) 1796
- Action of 13 January 1797 1797
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All 81 battles of the French Revolutionary Wars →
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