Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)

Battle of Cape Finisterre

Part of: Third Coalition War

Painting on the battle of William Anderson

date	July 22, 1805
place	in front of Cape Finisterre , Spain
output	Tactical British victory

Parties to the conflict
United Kingdom	France Spain
Commander
Robert Calder	Pierre de Villeneuve
Troop strength
15 ships of the line	20 ships of the line
losses
39 dead 159 wounded	476 dead and wounded 2 ships captured

In the sea ​​battle at Finisterre prevented the British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder on July 22, 1805, that the Franco-Spanish fleet under Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve could sail into the English Channel to support Napoleon in the planned invasion of Great Britain. The sea battle is attributed to the Third Coalition War .

Strategic background

Admiral Robert Calder

Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve

The unstable peace treaty of Amiens from 1802 only lasted until May 18, 1803, when Napoleon annexed the Italian state of Piedmont . Great Britain then declared war on France again.

Napoleon planned to remove the British naval blockade by invading and conquering the British Isles. In 1805 his "L'Armée des côtes de l'Océan" (French for "the army on the coast of the ocean") was almost 200,000 strong and was mainly camped near Boulogne . Should this army manage to cross the English Channel, the poorly trained and inadequately equipped British army and local militias could easily be defeated. The plan was for the French fleets to break the sea blockades at Toulon and Brest and threaten the British possessions in the Caribbean . Napoleon hoped that this would weaken the defense of the Western Approaches . At Martinique , both fleets were supposed to unite and return to Europe , to land in Ireland , which had belonged to Great Britain for a few years, and to spark a rebellion there. This in turn was intended to thin out the surveillance of the English Channel and allow the Armée d'Angleterre to cross it.

Villeneuve sailed on March 29, 1805 with eleven ships of the line , six frigates and two briggs from Toulon. He bypassed Admiral Nelson's blockade fleet and passed the Strait of Gibraltar on April 8th. At Cádiz he put the British squadron blocking the port to flight and so six Spanish ships of the line were able to join the fleet. The fleet then sailed towards the Caribbean and reached Martinique on May 12th.

Nelson was forced to stay in the Mediterranean by unfavorable westerly winds and was only able to pass Gibraltar on May 7, 1805. The British fleet finally reached Antigua on June 4th . Villeneuve was waiting in Martinique for Admiral Ganteume's fleet from Brest to join him. However, the fleet did not come because it could not break the blockade and remained in port. The requests of French army officers to attack the British colonies, Villeneuve did not comply. He only recaptured the island battery HMS Diamond Rock . On June 4, 1805, he set sail from Martinique again. On June 7th he learned of Nelson's arrival in Antigua through the hijacking of a British merchant ship. Villeneuve then sailed back towards Europe on June 11, without having reached any of its destinations in the Caribbean.

As it passed the Antilles, the Franco-Spanish fleet came across a British convoy with a cargo worth 5 million francs . The convoy was only escorted by the 28-gun frigate Barbados and the sloop Netley . Villeneuve ordered the pursuit of the convoy and two French frigates and the Spanish 80-gun ship Argonauta were able to capture all ships. Only one of the escorts was able to escape.

On June 30, the squadron hijacked a British 14-gun privateer ship and burned it down. On July 3rd, the Spanish galleon Matilda was recaptured, which had a treasure worth 15 million francs on board. She was towed by the British privateer ship Mars , which was supposed to bring the Matilda into a British port. The buccaneer was burned and the “Matilda” was taken in tow by the French frigate Siréne .

The fleet continued its voyage to Europe and on July 9 was caught in a storm that resulted in the loss of the main spar of the Indomptable and slightly damaged several other ships. So the fleet arrived on July 22nd, 1805 in bad shape, with overtired crews and scarce supplies off Cape Finisterre .

The naval battle

The news of the returning French fleet reached Admiral Robert Calder on July 19. He was ordered to end the blockade of the ports of Rochefort and Ferrol and sail towards Cape Finisterre. There he should intercept Villeneuve.

The fleets sighted at around 11:00 a.m. on July 22, 1805

For several hours, both fleets tried to reach a tactically favorable combat position and sailed in the direction of the southwest. The battle began at around 5:15 pm when the captain of the Hero, Alan Hyde Gardner, who sailed ahead as the vanguard, was heading for the Franco-Spanish battle formation. Due to the poor visibility, the battle turned into an uncoordinated scuffle. At around 8 p.m., the Spanish ships Firme and San Rafael surrendered . At 8:25 p.m. Calder signaled to end the fight. He intended to continue the fight the next day. Due to the prevailing confusion and the lack of light, the fight continued for over an hour.

On the morning of July 23, the distance between the two fleets was 27 km. Calder wasn't ready to attack again against a superior opponent. He also had to protect the damaged ships Windsor Castle and Malta . He also feared that the fleets that were moored in the previously blocked ports of Rochefort and Ferrol could escape and join forces with Villeneuve's fleet. Therefore he did not attack again and sailed with his prize ships towards the northeast.

According to Villeneuve's records, he planned to attack the British first. Due to the weak wind, however, it would have taken all day to catch up with them and he didn't want to start a fight again in bad daylight.

On July 24th, the wind turned in favor of the French. Nevertheless, Villeneuve failed to attack and instead sailed south. When he arrived in La Coruña on August 1st, orders from Napoleon awaited him to sail immediately to Brest and Boulogne. Since Villeneuve had been given false information about a superior British fleet in the Bay of Biscay , he did not obey the orders and returned to Cádiz on August 21, 1805.

Effects

The battle was a defeat for the French. 15 British ships fought against 20 Franco-Spanish ships, with two Spanish ships being captured. The British casualties were 39 officers and men dead and 159 wounded. Allied losses amounted to 476 dead and wounded officers and men. Much more important, however, was that Villeneuve could not achieve any of his goals. He did not drop any troops in Ireland and Napoleon's Armée d'Angleterre waited in vain in Boulogne to be transferred to Great Britain.

The British public and the Admiralty saw the matter a little differently. Because of his reluctance to fight, Calder was relieved of his command on July 23rd and 24th, brought to court-martial and received a serious reprimand. After that he never received a command at sea again.

Napoleon, who was also disappointed, had to abandon his plans to attack Britain. Shortly afterwards he ordered the transfer of the army from Boulogne to the Rhine in order to pull against the Austrian and Russian armies. On the way to Germany, the "L'Armée des côtes de l'Océan" was renamed " Grande Armée " on August 30, 1805 . A few weeks after the naval battle, Napoleon wrote: “Gravina is brilliant and decisive in battle. If Villeneuve had had these qualities, the Battle of Finisterre would have been a complete victory. "

Villeneuve and his fleet anchored in Cádiz until they left port to be destroyed in the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805.

The British fleet

• Calder had 15 ships of the line, two frigates and two smaller ships available

ship	losses		Damage
	dead	wounded	Rigging	Masts and spars	Hull and other damage
Hero (74), Captain Alan Hyde Gardner	1	4th	mostly shredded	Foremast and fore spar badly destroyed	several bullets at the level of the waterline
Ajax, 74, Captain William Brown	2	16	mostly shredded	Topsail spar	one gun exploded, causing damage.
Triumph (74), Captain Henry Inman	5	6th	mostly shredded	Topsail spar	two destroyed cannons
Barfleur (98), Captain George Martin	3	7th		Foremast and fore pier
Agamemnon (64), Captain John Harvey	0	3		Front pier, mizzen mast and main spar
Windsor Castle (98), Captain C. Boyles	10	35	mostly shredded	Front pier and large parts of the foremast, main mast, main spar, bowsprit
Defiance (74), Captain Philip Durham	1	7th	mostly shredded	Besanto spar, mainmast, foremast spar
Prince of Wales (98), flagship of Admiral Calder, Captain W. Cumming	3	20th	mostly shredded	Foremast spar, mizzen mast spar and mainmast spar	Rudder torn out completely
Repulse (64), Captain Arthur Keye-Legge	0	4th	mostly shredded	bowsprit
Raisonnable (64), Captain Josias Rowley	1	1		different spars	some bullet holes
Dragon (74), Captain Edward Griffith	0	4th
Glory (98), flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Charles Stirling , Captain Samuel Warren	1	1	mostly shredded	Foremast spar
Warrior (74), Captain S. Hood Linzee	0	0	mostly shredded	some spars	Starboard strut
Thunderer (74), Captain William Lechmere	7th	11	mostly shredded	Mizzenmast, spars from fore and mainmast	several bullets
Malta (80), captain. Granger	5	40	mostly shredded	larger spars and all masts

French-Spanish fleet

• Villeneuve had 20 ships of the line

6 Spanish and 14 French as well as seven frigates and two brigs.

Ship (Spanish ships in bold)	losses		Damage
	dead	wounded	Rigging	Masts and spars	Hull and other damage
Argonauta (80), flagship of Lieutenant General Federico Gravina , flag captain Rafael de Hore	6th	5		Forward stem demolished, mizzen and foremast destroyed
Terrible (74), Commander Francisco Vázquez de Mondragón	1	7th	mostly shredded		two cannons destroyed, one bullet at the waterline
América (64), commander. Juan Darrac	5	13		all masts covered with bullet holes	60 bullets
España (64), Commander Bernardo Muñoz	5	23	mostly shredded	Mizzen mast and various spars destroyed	Rudder partially torn off, some hull damage
San Rafael, 80, in command. Francisco de Montes (captured)	41	97	completely shredded	completely dismasted	littered with bullets
Firme (74), Commander. Rafael de Villavicencio (captured)	35	60	completely shredded	completely dismasted	littered with bullets
Pluton (74), Commander Julien Marie Cosmao-Kerjulien	14th	24
Mont-Blanc (74), Commander La Villegris	5	16
Atlas (74)	15th	52			Commander killed
Berwick, 74, Commander Camas	3	11
Neptune (80), commander. Maistral	3	9
Bucentaure (80), flagship of Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve	5	5
Formidable (80), flagship of Rear Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, Commander Letellier	6th	8th
Intrépide (74), Commander Ifernet	7th	9
Scipion (74), commander. Berenguer	0	0
Swiftsure, 74, Commander Villemadrin	0	0
Indomptable (80), Commander Hubert	1	1
Aigle, 74, Commander Gourrege	6th	0
Achille (74), Commander Nieport	0	0
Algésiras (74), flagship of Rear Admiral Magon, Commander Brouard	0	0

Remarks

1. ↑ in the literature, especially in the English language, the term "Armée d'Angleterre" is often found, but in the official French documents it is always "L'Armée des côtes de l'Océan"
2. ^ The troops in the camp of Boulogne were only part of the troops that were supposed to cross over to England (Charles Rabou: La Grande Armée. Part I, 1865, p. 5ff; Liskenne, Sauvan: Bibliothèque Militaire. Part VII, 1853, p. 11 ff)
3. ^ Order printed in full in: Liskenne, Sauvan: Bibliothèque Militaire. Part VII, 1853, p. 11 ff

literature

• William James: The naval history of Great Britain during the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Reprint of the London 1837 edition, London 2002.

Web links

• Spanish capital of the Naval Department in 1788
• Ships blocking various French and Spanish ports - May 1805.
• British Ships Index - May 1805.
• The naval station in pictures - 2004.
• Todo a Babor. La Batalla de Finisterre The Battle of Finisterre. In Spanish.