Action of 17 July 1761

Action of 17 July 1761
Part of the Seven Years' War
Model of HMS Thunderer from 1760. National Maritime Museum
Date 14–17 July 1761 Location Off Cádiz, Atlantic Ocean Result British victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	France
Commanders and leaders
Captain Charles Proby
Strength
HMS Thunderer HMS Modeste HMS Thetis HMS Favourite	Achille Bouffone
Casualties and losses
34 killed 96 wounded	Heavy, Achille & Bouffone captured

The Action of 17 July 1761 was a naval engagement fought off the Spanish port of Cádiz between a British Royal Navy squadron and a smaller French Navy squadron during the Seven Years' War. British fleets had achieved dominance in European waters over the French following heavy defeats of French fleets 1759. To maintain this control, British battle squadrons were stationed off French ports, as well as ports in neutral but French-supporting Spain which sheltered French warships. In 1761, two French ships, the 64-gun ship of the line Achille and 32-gun frigate Bouffone were blockaded in the principal Spanish naval base of Cádiz, on the Southern Atlantic coast of Spain.

Achille had departed the French Atlantic base of Brest in March, fighting though the blockade of that port, and was then trapped in Cádiz by a British squadron detached from the Mediterranean Fleet based at Gibraltar comprising ships of the line HMS Thunderer and HMS Modeste, frigate HMS Thetis and sloop HMS Favourite, under the command of Captain Charles Proby on Thunderer. When the French ship attempted to leave Proby gave chase, eventually catching them and bringing them to battle. Thunderer suffered heavy losses when a cannon exploded, but Proby was able to bring his ship alongside Achille and capture the ship in a boarding action while Thetis and Modeste captured Bouffone.

In 1759 the French Navy suffered heavy losses in the defeats at the Battle of Lagos and the Battle of Quiberon Bay, which gave the Royal Navy superiority in the Atlantic. To retain this advantage, the Royal Navy stationed squadrons off the principal French naval bases in a strategy of close blockade; French ships periodically attempted to break through this blockade to operate against British commerce. On 9 March 1761, the squadron off the port of Brest in Brittany, led by Commodore Matthew Buckle, sighted a French ships of the line and a frigate sailing from the port. Buckle ordered the 60-gun British ship HMS Rippon under Captain Edward Jekyll to pursue the French, Jekyll chasing the enemy ships into the Bay of Biscay. The French ships were the 64-gun Achille and frigate Bouffone.

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