Battle of the Nile

"The Destruction of L'Orient at the Battle of the Nile"
George Arnald, 1827, National Maritime Museum, in Greenwich, London, England

Date	1–3 August 1798
Location	Aboukir Bay, Egypt, Ottoman Empire
Result	Decisive British victory

Belligerents

Great Britain

French Republic

Commanders and leaders

Horatio Nelson

François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers †

Strength

13 ships of the line, 1 fourth rate and 1 sloop

13 ships of the line, 4 frigates

Casualties and losses

218 killed
677 wounded

2,000–5,000 casualties
3,000–3,900 captured
2 ships of the line destroyed
9 ships of the line captured
2 frigates destroyed

Coordinates: 31°20′N 30°07′E / 31.333°N 30.117°E / 31.333; 30.117

The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; French: Bataille d'Aboukir; Egyptian Arabic: معركة أبي قير البحرية‎‎) was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the Nile Delta of Egypt from 1 to 3 August 1798. The battle was the climax of a naval campaign that had ranged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under General Napoleon Bonaparte. The British fleet was led in the battle by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson; they decisively defeated the French under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers.

Bonaparte sought to invade Egypt as the first step in a campaign against British India, part of a greater effort to drive Britain out of the French Revolutionary Wars. As Bonaparte's fleet crossed the Mediterranean, it was pursued by a British force under Nelson who had been sent from the British fleet in the Tagus to learn the purpose of the French expedition and to defeat it. He chased the French for more than two months, on several occasions only missing them by a matter of hours. Bonaparte was aware of Nelson's pursuit and enforced absolute secrecy about his destination. He was able to capture Malta and then land in Egypt without interception by the British naval forces.

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