Battle of Sables-d'Olonne

Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne
Part of the Napoleonic Wars
Battle of Les Sables d'Olonne
Date 24 February 1809 Location Off Les Sables-d'Olonne, France Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	France
Commanders and leaders
Robert Stopford	Pierre Roch Jurien
Strength
Ships of the line HMS Caesar, HMS Defiance and HMS Donegal, frigate HMS Amelia and brig-sloop HMS Doterel	Frigates Italienne, Calypso and Cybèle, with support from coastal forts.
Casualties and losses
3 killed, 31 wounded	24 killed, 51 wounded. All ships damaged beyond repair.

The Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne was a minor naval battle fought on 23 February 1809 off the town of Les Sables-d'Olonne on the Biscay Coast of France between a French Navy squadron of three frigates and a larger British squadron of ships of the line. The French squadron had sailed from the port of Lorient on 23 February in an effort to link up with a fleet from Brest under Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, but missed the rendezvous and was pursued by a British blockade squadron under Rear-Admiral Robert Stopford. The French commander, Commodore Pierre Roch Jurien, anchored his squadron under the batteries which protected the town of Les Sables-d'Olonne in the hope of dissuading an attack.

Ignoring the batteries, Stopford ordered his squadron to attack at 09:00 on 24 February, HMS Defiance leading the line. Shortly after the main batteries of Stopford's ships of the line came into the battle, the French ships were overwhelmed one by one and shortly after noon all three had been driven ashore with heavy casualties. British histories recount that all three were destroyed, although French histories report that they were salvaged but found to be damaged beyond repair. The fleet under Willaumez was trapped in the anchorage at Basque Roads on 26 February and defeated at the Battle of Basque Roads in April with heavy losses.

In 1809 the Royal Navy was dominant in the Atlantic, the French Atlantic fleet trapped by close blockade in the French Biscay ports by the British Channel Fleet. The largest French base was at Brest in Brittany, where the main body of the French fleet lay at anchor under the command of Contre-amiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, with smaller French detachments stationed at Lorient and Rochefort. The squadron at Lorient comprised three ships of the line and five frigates under Commodore Amable Troude, watched by its own blockade squadron of four ships of the line under Captain John Poo Beresford.

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