Battle of the Îles Saint-Marcouf 1798
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 7 May 1798 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1798 | 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 | France, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 49.4925, -1.1625 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of the Îles Saint-Marcouf was fought off the Îles Saint-Marcouf on 7 May 1798 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Dislodging a British garrison on the islands was the main objective for French forces. The garrison (which had been in place since 1795) allowed the islands to serve as a resupply base for Royal Navy ships patrolling northern French waters. Apart from expelling the British, the French sought to test new equipment and tactics, which had allegedly been developed with an intention of invading Britain.
On 7 May, French forces launched a massed amphibious assault on the southern island, using over 50 landing ships and hundreds of troops. The island's 500-strong garrison was compelled to resist the attack alone; although significant Royal Navy forces were in the area, a combination of wind and tides prevented them from intervening. Despite the superior numbers of the French attackers, the operation was a complete failure. The landing ships were exposed to heavy British fire, from both shore batteries and musket fire. This fire precluded the landing of any French soldiers, and killed nearly 1,000 of them in the landing ships.
As the landing force retreated, British fire from the smaller island to the north inflicted further losses on the French. British casualties were negligible.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Îles Saint-Marcouf (revision 1378613390), 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
- Action of 25 January 1797 1797
- Assault on Cádiz (1797) 1797
- Battle of Camperdown 1797
- Battle of Rivoli 1797
- Battle of Tarvis (1797) 1797
- Action of 14 December 1798 1798
- Action of 24 October 1798 1798
- Action of 30 May 1798 1798
- Battle of Tory Island 1798
- Battle of the Pyramids 1798
All 81 battles of the French Revolutionary Wars →
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