Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne 1809
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 23 February 1809 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1809 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Napoleonic Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 46.4872, -1.7833 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne was a minor naval battle fought on 23 February 1809 off the town of Les Sables-d'Olonne on the Biscay Coast of France between a French Navy squadron of three frigates and a larger British squadron of ships of the line. The French squadron had sailed from the port of Lorient on 23 February in an effort to link up with a fleet from Brest under Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, but missed the rendezvous and was pursued by a British blockade squadron under Rear-Admiral Robert Stopford. The French commander, Commodore Pierre Roch Jurien, anchored his squadron under the batteries which protected the town of Les Sables-d'Olonne in the hope of dissuading an attack.
Ignoring the batteries, Stopford ordered his squadron to attack at 09:00 on 24 February, HMS Defiance leading the line. Shortly after the main batteries of Stopford's ships of the line came into the battle, the French ships were overwhelmed one by one and shortly after noon all three had been driven ashore with heavy casualties. British histories recount that all three were destroyed, although French histories report that they were salvaged but found to be damaged beyond repair.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne (revision 1370447502), 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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