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The Atlantic raid of June 1796 was a short campaign containing three connected minor naval engagements fought in the Western Approaches comprising Royal Navy efforts to eliminate a squadron of French frigates operating against British commerce during the French Revolutionary Wars. Although Royal Navy dominance in the Western Atlantic had been established, French commerce raiders operating on short cruises were having a damaging effect on British trade, and British frigate squadrons regularly patrolled from Cork in search of the raiders. One such squadron comprised the 36-gun frigates HMS ''Unicorn'' and HMS ''Santa Margarita'', patrolling in the vicinity of the Scilly Isles, which encountered a French squadron comprising the frigates ''Tribune'' and ''Tamise'' and the corvette ''Légėre''. The opposing forces were approximately equal in size, but the French, under orders to operate against commerce, not engage British warships, attempted to retreat. The British frigates pursued closely and over the course of the day gradually overhauled the French squadron. At 16:00 ''Santa Margarita'' caught ''Tamise'' and a furious duel ensued in which the smaller ''Tamise'' was badly damaged and eventually forced to surrender. ''Tribune'' continued its efforts to escape, but was finally caught by ''Unicorn'' at 22:30 and defeated in a second hard-fought engagement. ''Légėre'' took no part in the action and was able to withdraw without becoming embroiled in either conflict. Five days later the French frigate ''Proserpine'', which had separated from the rest of the squadron after leaving Brest, was searching for her compatriots off Cape Clear in Southern Ireland when she was discovered by the patrolling British frigate HMS ''Dryad''. ''Dryad'' successfully chased down ''Proserpine'' and forced the French ship to surrender in an engagement lasting 45 minutes. Nine days later ''Légėre'' was captured without a fight by another British frigate patrol. French casualties in all three engagements were very heavy, while British losses were light. In the aftermath all four captured ships were purchased for service in the Royal Navy. ==Background== The first three years of the conflict between Great Britain and the new French Republic in the French Revolutionary Wars, which began in 1793, had resulted in a series of setbacks for the French Atlantic Fleet, based at the large fortified port of Brest. In 1794 seven French ships of the line had been lost at the battle of the Glorious First of June, and early the following year five more were wrecked by winter storms during the disastrous ''Croisière du Grand Hiver'' campaign. In June 1795 three more ships were captured by the British Channel Fleet at the Battle of Groix.〔Gardiner, p.16〕 With the French fleet consolidating at Brest, the Royal Navy instituted a policy of close blockade, maintaining a fleet off the port to intercept any efforts by the main French battle fleet to sail. The French Navy instead embarked on a strategy of interference with British commerce, the majority of which by necessity passed through the Western Approaches and the English Channel. This campaign was conducted principally by privateers and small squadrons of frigates operating from Brest and other smaller ports on the French Atlantic and Channel coasts.〔Gardiner, p.140〕 The French commerce raiding operations had some success against British trade, and to counteract these attacks the Royal Navy formed squadrons of fast frigates, which patrolled the Channel and Bay of Biscay in search of the French warships.〔Gardiner, p.51〕 This resulted in a series of engagements between British and French frigate squadrons, including a notable battle on 23 April 1794,〔James, p.201〕 and two actions by a squadron under the command of Commodore Sir Edward Pellew on 13 April and 20 April 1796 fought in the mouth of the Channel.〔Brenton, p.241〕 The southern coast of Ireland, in the Kingdom of Ireland, a British client state, was seen as a particularly vulnerable region due to its proximity to the trade routes and its numerous isolated anchorages in which French ships could shelter. To counteract this threat, a Royal Navy frigate squadron was stationed in Cork under the command of Rear-Admiral Robert Kingsmill. Ships from this squadron patrolled the mouth of the Channel, singly or in pairs, in search of French raiders.〔Woodman, p.77〕 On 4 June 1796, a French squadron was dispatched from Brest on a raiding cruise. This force included the 40-gun frigates ''Tribune'' under Franco-American Commodore Jean Moulston, ''Proserpine'' under Captain Etienne Pevrieux and ''Tamise'' under Captain Jean-Baptiste-Alexis Fradin, the latter formerly a Royal Navy ship named HMS ''Thames'' which had been captured in an engagement in the Bay of Biscay by a French frigate squadron in October 1793. With the frigates was the 18-gun corvette ''Légėre'' under Lieutenant Jean Michel-Martin Carpentier.〔 ''Tamise'' in particular had proven a highly effective commerce raider, recorded as capturing twenty merchant ships since her enforced change of allegiance.〔 ''Prosperine'' separated from the other ships during a period of heavy fog on 7 June, sailing independently to the rendezvous off Cape Clear in Southern Ireland.〔James, p.328〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Atlantic raid of June 1796」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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