Battle of Martinique (1779) 1779
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1779 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: North America) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Revolutionary War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | France, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 14.5833, -61.1500 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Martinique was a naval encounter on 18 December 1779 between a British 13-ship squadron under Admiral Hyde Parker and a three-ship French division under Admiral Lamotte-Picquet near the island of Martinique in the West Indies. In order to cover the retreat of a convoy under Joseph de Flotte chased by the British, the lone 74-gun Annibal, under Lamotte-Picquet. For 90 minutes, Annibal single-handedly engaged the British squadron to block its advance, before she was joined by the two 64-guns, Vengeur and Réfléchi. Ten to 11 of the transports were taken by the British or beached themselves to avoid capture, but the rest of the convoy of the escorting frigate Aurore managed to escape, and the division returned to its anchorage. Hyde Parker wrote Lamotte-Picquet a congratulation letter in the following days.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Martinique (1779) (revision 1370449172), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Invasion of Martinique (1674) 1674 · 9 km
- Battle of Fort Royal 1781 · 11 km
- Battle of Martinique (1667) 1667 · 18 km
- Battle of Martinique (1794) 1794 · 19 km
- Invasion of Martinique (1762) 1762 · 19 km
- Invasion of Martinique (1759) 1759 · 19 km
Other battles of the American Revolutionary War
- Capture of St. Lucia 1778
- Cherry Valley massacre 1778
- Frederica naval action 1778
- Mount Hope Bay raids 1778
- Siege of Boonesborough 1778
- Battle of Baton Rouge (1779) 1779
- Battle of Beaufort 1779
- Battle of Brier Creek 1779
- Battle of Flamborough Head 1779
- Battle of Grenada 1779
All 190 battles of the American Revolutionary War →
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