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The Battle of the Raz de Sein was a naval engagement of the blockade of Brest during the French Revolutionary Wars between a French and Royal Navy ships of the line on 21 April 1798. The British blockade fleet under Admiral Lord Bridport had sailed from St Helens on 12 April and on the morning of 21 April was crossing the Iroise Passage when sails were spotted to the east. Three ships were detached in pursuit, led by the 74-gun ship of the line HMS ''Mars'' under Captain Alexander Hood. As the British ships approached their quarry a third sail was sighted to the southeast close to the coastline and moving north towards Brest. This ship was the 74-gun ''Hercule'' under Captain Louis L'Héritier, newly commissioned at Lorient and sailing to Brest to join the main French fleet and the British squadron immediately changed direction to intercept the new target. Facing overwhelming odds L'Héritier attempted to escape through the narrow ''Raz de Sein'' passage, but found the tide against him and so anchored at the mouth of the passage to await the British attack. At 21:15 ''Mars'' reached ''Hercule'', coming under heavy fire as Hood manoeuvred into position, bringing his ship crashing alongside the French vessel. For more than an hour the ships fired directly into one another, so close that their guns could not be run out but had to be fired from inside the ships. Damage and casualties were severe on both sides, the latter including Hood who was mortally wounded at the height of the engagement. Ultimately ''Hercule'' was forced to surrender after attempts to board ''Mars'' failed. Both ships were battered and burnt, with the French suffering at least 290 casualties and the British 90. ''Hercule'' was conveyed to Britain in the aftermath and later repaired and served in the Royal Navy until 1810. Both L'Héritier and the deceased Hood were highly praised for their conduct during the battle, which is noted as being a very rare example during this period of an action between two ships of approximately equal strength without any external influence. ==Background== During the French Revolutionary Wars the Royal Navy had exerted dominance at sea over its continental rivals, most immediately the French Navy with its principal fleet based at Brest on the Breton coast of the Bay of Biscay. To contain this fleet the British practiced a close blockade strategy; maintaining a fleet off Brest whenever weather conditions permitted to prevent the French fleet from breaking out into the Atlantic Ocean.〔Woodman, p. 100〕 This blockade force also limited French trade and maritime communications, attacking merchant ships and individual warships seeking to resupply or reinforce the main French fleet. This made French maritime journeys extremely hazardous even in inshore waters: in June 1795 the main French fleet had suffered a defeat at the hands of the blockade force at the Battle of Groix in the approaches to the port of Lorient,〔Clowes, p. 261〕 while at the Action of 13 January 1797 the independently sailing 74-gun ship of the line ''Droits de l'Homme'' was driven ashore and destroyed in the approaches to Brest by two frigates of the blockade squadron.〔Woodman, p. 89〕 On 12 April 1798 the British blockade fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Bridport sailed from its winter anchorage at St Helens on the Isle of Wight for the Breton coast. Bridport mustered ten ships of the line to maintain the watch on Brest, although detachments of the fleet had been cruising in the region since 25 January and with notice he could call on 28 ships of the line.〔 The French fleet had suffered a series of setbacks in the early years of the war: in addition to the losses at Groix, seven ships had been lost at the Glorious First of June in 1795 and more were wrecked during the failed ''Croisière du Grand Hiver'' operation of 1795 and the ''Expédition d'Irlande'' in 1796.〔Clowes, p. 553〕 To replenish these losses, the French Navy was building new ships at its major fleet bases and in April 1798 a ship had been commissioned at Lorient: the ''Hercule'', a 74-gun ship of 1,876 tons burthen launched in July 1797 and commanded by the experienced Captain Louis L'Héritier, veteran of the Glorious First of June, and with a crew of 680, 20 short of a full complement.〔 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「Battle of the Raz de Sein」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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