Battle of Porto Praya 1781
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 16 April 1781 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1781 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Cabo Verde | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Revolutionary War, Anglo-French War of 1778–1783 | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of France, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 14.9073, -23.5049 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Porto Praya was fought on 16 April 1781 during the American Revolutionary War between a Royal Navy fleet under Commodore George Johnstone and a French Navy squadron under Pierre André de Suffren. Both the British and French were en route to the Dutch Cape Colony, the former to capture it and the latter to help defend it before proceeding to France's colonies in the Indian Ocean. The British had anchored at Porto Praya in neutral Portuguese-held Cape Verde to take on water, when the French squadron arrived and violated Portuguese neutrality by attacking them at anchor.
Due to the unexpected nature of the encounter, neither the British nor French were prepared to do battle, and in the inconclusive engagement that followed Suffren's squadron sustained more damage than Johnstone's fleet, though no ships were lost. Johnstone tried to pursue the French, but was forced to call it off in order to repair the damage his ships had taken. The French gained a strategic victory, because Suffren beat Johnstone to the Cape Colony and reinforced its garrison before continuing on his journey to the French colony of Isle de France.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Porto Praya (revision 1378922720), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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- Action of 19 February 1619 1619 · 22 km
Other battles of the American Revolutionary War
- Battle of Tearcoat Swamp 1780
- Battle of Wahab's Plantation 1780
- Battle of Waxhaws 1780
- Battle of Young's House 1780
- Siege of Charleston 1780
- Action of 21 July 1781 1781
- Battle of Blandford 1781
- Battle of Cape Henry 1781
- Battle of Cowan's Ford 1781
- Battle of Cowpens 1781
All 190 battles of the American Revolutionary War →
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