North Channel naval duel

Part of the American War of Independence

Date	24 April 1778
Location	North Channel, Irish Sea
Result	American victory

Belligerents

United States

Great Britain

Commanders and leaders

John Paul Jones

George Burdon †

Strength

USS Ranger
(sloop of war), 18 guns

HMS Drake
(sloop of war), 20 guns (officially 16)

Casualties and losses

3 killed, 5 wounded

5 killed, 20 wounded, HMS Drake severely damaged

Coordinates: 54°43′27″N 5°27′00″W / 54.72417°N 5.45000°W / 54.72417; -5.45000

The North Channel naval duel was a single-ship action between the United States Continental Navy sloop of war Ranger (Captain John Paul Jones) and the British Royal Navy sloop of war Drake (Captain George Burdon) on the evening of 24 April 1778. Fought in the North Channel, separating Ireland from Scotland, it was the first American defeat of a Royal Navy ship within British home waters, and also very nearly the only American victory over the Royal Navy in the Revolution achieved without an overwhelming superiority of force. The action was one of a series of actions by Jones that brought the American War of Independence to British waters.

Even before the official entry of other nations, the American Revolutionary War was by no means confined to American soil; naval operations, by both the Continental Navy and privateers, ranged across the Atlantic. In 1777, American captains such as Lambert Wickes, Gustavus Conyngham, and William Day had been making raids into British waters and capturing merchant ships, which they took into French ports, even though France was officially neutral. Captain Day had even been accorded a gun salute by the French admiral at Brest.

...
Wikipedia