Battle of Quiberon Bay 1759
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 20 November 1759 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1759 | 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 | Seven Years' War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | France, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 47.5167, -3.0000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Quiberon Bay (known as the Bataille des Cardinaux by the French) was a decisive naval engagement during the Seven Years' War. It was fought on 20–21 November 1759 between the Royal Navy and the French Navy in Quiberon Bay, off the coast of France near Saint-Nazaire. The battle was the culmination of British efforts to eliminate French naval superiority, which could have given the French the ability to carry out their planned invasion of Great Britain.
In the battle, a British fleet of 24 ships of the line under Admiral of the Blue Sir Edward Hawke tracked down and engaged a French fleet of 21 ships of the line under Chef d'escadre Hubert de Brienne. After hard fighting, the British fleet sank or ran aground six French ships of the line, captured one and scattered the rest, giving the Royal Navy one of its greatest victories, and ending the threat of French invasion for good. The battle cemented the dominance of the Royal Navy for the rest of the war and for the British formed part of the Annus Mirabilis of 1759.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Quiberon Bay (revision 1370272557), 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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Other battles of the Seven Years' War
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- Siege of Olomouc 1758
- Battle of Beauport 1759
- Battle of Bergen (1759) 1759
- Battle of Chinsurah 1759
- Battle of Fort Niagara 1759
- Battle of Frisches Haff 1759
All 102 battles of the Seven Years' War →
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