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NAVAL OPERATIONS
The naval operations of the Seven Years' See also:War began nearly a See also:year before the See also:declaration of hostilities. In See also:June 1755 a See also:British See also:squadron under See also:Boscawen was sent into the Straits of Belle Isle to intercept See also:French See also:ships carrying soldiers and stores to See also:Quebec, in See also:retaliation for aggressions on British possessions in See also:North See also:America. On the 8th of June Boscawen seized two French See also:line-of-See also:battle ships fitted as transports, the " Alcide " and the "'Lys." A See also:general seizure of French See also:merchant ships followed, and thousands of French sailors were in See also:prison in See also:England by the See also:early days of 1756. The See also:government of See also: The ships were indifferently manned, and the See also:admiralty refused to strengthen him by drafts from the ships it proposed to retain in the Channel. In See also:order to find See also:room for the soldiers, the See also:marines of the squadron were See also:left behind. There was therefore a danger that, if an encounter with the French See also:fleet took See also:place after the reinforcements were landed, the British squadron would be See also:short-handed. Byng reached See also:Gibraltar on the 2nd of May. The French invasion of Minorca had been carried out on the 19th of April. The See also:governor of Gibraltar, General Fowke, refused to See also:part with any of his soldiers to reinforce Minorca. On the 8th of May Byng sailed, and on the 19th he was in communication by See also:signal with General See also:Blakeney, governor of the fortress. Before the soldiers could be landed the French fleet came in sight. Byng had been joined by three ships of the line at Gibraltar, and had therefore thirteen ships to twelve. One of the French vessels, the " Foudroyant" (84), was a finer warship than any in the British line, but in effective See also:power Byng was at least equal to his opponent, and if his ships were poorly manned La Galissoniere was in worse case. The British admiral rejected one of his small line-of-battle ships in order to engage in the then orthodox manner—See also:van to van, centre to centre, and See also:rear to rear, See also:ship against ship. By the manoeuvres of the afternoon of the 19th and See also:morning of the loth he gained the See also:weather-See also:gage, and then See also:bore down on the enemy at an See also:angle, the van of the See also:English steering for the van of the French. The See also:sixth ship in his line, the " Intrepid" (74), having lost her foretopmast, became unmanageable and threw the vessels behind her out of order. Thus the six in front were exposed to the See also:fire of all the French, who ran past them and went off. Byng could have prevented them by bearing down, but refused to alter the formation of his fleet. Being now much disturbed by the crippled See also:state of the ships in his van, he made no effort either to See also:land the soldiers he had on See also:board or to renew the See also:action; and after holding a See also:council of war on the 24th of May, which confirmed his own See also:desire to See also:retreat, he sailed for Gibraltar (see BYNG, JOHN, for his trial and See also:execution). The loss of Minorca, which was the consequence of this retreat, gave the French a great See also:advantage in the Mediterranean. During the See also:rest of the year no very vigorous See also:measures were taken on either See also:side, though the British government reinforced its squadrons both in the Mediterranean and on the See also:coast of America. In 1757 the naval war began to be pushed with a vigour hitherto unprecedented. The See also:elder See also:Pitt became the effective See also:head of the government, and was able to set about ruining the French power at See also:sea. Owing to the See also:long neglect of the French navy, it was so inferior in strength to the British that nothing short of the worst mismanagement on Pitt's part could have deprived Great Britain of victory. Some of the See also:minister's measures were not indeed See also:wise. He sent out, during the last months of 1757 and the whole of 1758, a See also:series of combined expeditions against the French coast, which were costly and for the most part unsuccessful. They 'terminated in See also:September 1758 with a disaster to the troops engaged in St Cas See also:Bay. Yet these assaults on the French coast did much to revive the spirit of the nation, by removing the fear of invasion. Meanwhile a See also:sound aggressive policy was followed in distant seas during 1758. In the See also:East Indies the squadron which had been engaged during 1757 in co-operating with See also:Clive in the See also:conquest of See also:Bengal was strengthened. Under the command of See also:Sir See also:George See also:Pocock it was employed against the French squadron of M. d'Ache, who brought a See also:body of troops from See also:Europe under General See also:Lally-Tollendal to attack the possessions of the East See also:India See also:Company on the Coromandel coast. The two actions fought at sea on the 29th of April and the 1st of See also:August in the Bay of Bengal were not victories for Sir George Pocock, but neither were they defeats. The French admiral was so uncertain of his power to overcome his opponent that he sailed for the islands of the See also:Indian Ocean so soon as Lally and the authorities at See also:Pondicherry would allow him to go. In America the strong squadron of Boscawen rendered possible the See also:capture of See also:Louisburg, on the 26th of See also:July, and cleared the way for the conquest of See also:Canada in the following year. During 1759 the French government, trusting that the multiplicity of the calls upon its fleet would compel Great Britain to scatter its naval forces, laid plans for a great invasion (for the details of this See also:plan and its results, see See also:QUIBERON, BATTLE OF). But the British navy proved numerous enough not only to baffle invasion at See also:home but to effect large conquests of French possessions abroad. In North America the co-operation of the navy rendered possible the capture of Quebec by See also:Wolfe. In the See also:West Indies, though an attack on See also:Martinique was repulsed, Guadaloupe was taken in See also:January. In the East Indies the squadron of M. d'Ache reappeared in the Bay of Bengal in September. He fought another undecided action with Sir George Pocock on the 8th, and gave some small help to the French See also:army. But the See also:bad state of his squadron forced him to retreat soon, and the resources of the French being now exhausted in those seas, he did not reappear. The British navy was left in See also:complete command of the Bay of Bengal and the coast of See also:Malabar. On See also:shore, Lally, cut off from reinforcements, was crushed, and Pondicherry See also:fell. During 176o and 1761 the French fleet made no See also:attempt to keep the sea. The British navy went on with the See also:work of conquering French possessions. During 1760 it co-operated on the Lakes and on the St See also:Lawrence in the final conquest of Canada. Between April and June of 1761 it covered the capture of the See also:island of Belle-Ile on the French coast, which both strengthened its means for maintaining See also:blockade and gave the British government a valuable See also:pledge to be used for extorting concessions when the See also:time for making See also:peace came. The complete ruin of French merchant See also:shipping and the collapse of the navy left the maritime See also:population See also:free to seek a livelihood in the privateers. See also:Commerce-destroying was carried on by them with considerable success. The number of British merchant ships taken has been put as high as one-tenth of the whole. But this percentage was the See also:price paid for the enormous advantage gained by the ruin of the French as commercial rivals. The merchant shipping of Great Britain increased largely in the course of the war, and from it See also:dates her commercial predominance.
By the See also:close of 1761 the helplessness of See also:France at sea had been demonstrated, but the maritime war was revived for a few months by the intervention of See also:Spain. A close See also:alliance, known as " the See also:family compact," was made between the royal houses of that See also:country and France in the course of 1761. The See also:secret was divulged, and Pitt would have made war on Spain at once. He was overruled and retired. So soon, however,. as the treasure ships from America had reached Spain, at the close of 1761, the See also:Spanish government declared war. Its navy was incapable of offering a serious resistance to the British, nor did it even attempt to operate at sea. The British government was left unopposed to carry out the plans which Pitt had prepared against Spain. The only aggressive See also:movement undertaken by the Spanish government was an attack on See also:Portugal, which was the close ally of Great Britain and gave her most useful help by allowing her the free use of Portuguese ports. As the See also: They gained several small actions against the invaders, and had the most active See also:share in the operations which forced them to retire. But the most effective blows delivered against Spain were directed at her colonies. The British troops, left free by the See also:recent success, against the French in America, were employed in an attack on See also:Havana. A powerful fleet left England on the 5th of March, bringing troops which were joined by others in the West Indies; Sir George Pocock, who had returned from the East Indies, was in command. Under his direction the fleet reached its destination without loss, and Havana was assailed. The citadel known as the See also:Moro See also:Castle made a stout See also:defence, and some of the ships suffered severely in a See also:bombardment. But the worst losses of the besiegers were due to the See also:climate of See also:Cuba, aided by bad sanitary arrangements. Of the ro,000 troops landed, three-fourths are said to have suffered from See also:fever or See also:dysentery, and the See also:majority of the sick died. Yet the Moro was taken on the 30th of September, and Havana, which could have made a longer resistance, surrendered on the loth of See also:October. Martinique, the last important See also:possession of France in the New See also:World except her See also:half of See also:San Domingo, had fallen in February. In the East Indies, where the surrender of Pondicherry had left other forces free, a combined expedition triumphed easily in October over the natives of See also:Manila, under the direction of the See also:archbishop, who acted as governor. The preliminaries of the peace of See also:Paris were signed on the 3rd of See also:November 1762. See Beatson, Naval and Military See also:Memoirs of Great Britain (See also:London, 18o4) ; See also:Captain See also:Mahan, See also:Influence of Sea Power upon See also:History; Lacour Gayet, La Marine militaire de la France sous le regne de Louis X V (Paris, 1902). (D. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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