The action of 4 September 1782 was a single-ship action fought off the Île de Batz between the French Navy frigate Hébé and Royal Navy frigate HMS Rainbow. It was the first military engagement to see the proper use of British carronade design, which proved so effective that Hébé promptly struck her colours right after the first broadside from Rainbow.[3]
| Action of 4 September 1782 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
 Hébé (right) as HMS Hebe in 1795 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Great Britain | France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Henry Trollope |
Joseph-Pierre de Vigny  | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1 frigate | 1 frigate | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
1 killed 2 wounded |
5 killed 7 wounded 360 captured 1 frigate captured[2] | ||||||
Battle
edit
On 4 September 1782 the 44-gun frigate HMS Rainbow of the Royal Navy under Captain Henry Trollope, armed entirely with carronades, was off the French coast near the Île de Batz when a ship was sighted. Having then chased the vessel, it turned out to be the French Navy frigate Hébé. The 1,063-ton Hébé was a new ship of the class of the same name whose armament consisted of 38 guns, 26 of which were 18-pounder long guns. It was commanded by Ship-of-the-line Captain Joseph-Pierre de Vigny and had on board 360 men. Hébé had left Saint-Malo on 3 September and was heading to Brest escorting a small convoy.[4] At 7:00 am, having arrived within gunshot of the French ship, the Rainbow commenced firing 32-pounder chase guns from the forecastle, which were returned by the frigate. One 32-pound ball shot away Hébé's wheel and killed her second captain.
Vigny examined the fragments of the hollow carronade shot and concluded that if she was firing 32-pounders as chase pieces, she was actually a ship of the line in disguise. He fired one broadside "for the honour of the flag" and struck his colours.[2] The surrender of Hébé after slight resistance was not surprising when taking into consideration the advantage provided by the unusual armament of the Rainbow.[5][6] Rainbow lost only one man killed and two slightly wounded. The French lost five killed, including the second captain, Yves-Gabriel Calloët de Lanidy, and several wounded out of a crew of 360 men.[2]
Aftermath
editFollowing the engagement a council of war was held by French authorities at Morlaix, which sentenced Vigny to be discharged from military service and 15 years in prison for surrendering his ship with so little resistance. The captured ship was immediately commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Hebe. After being renamed HMS Blonde in 1805 it was decommissioned and broken up in 1811.[7] Hebe also served as a model for a new series of British frigates, the Leda class, the first of which was launched in 1800. The new class would include HMS Surprise (1812), HMS Trincomalee (1817), HMS Unicorn (1824), and a second HMS Hebe (1826).[7]
References
editCitations
edit- ↑ Blake p. 37
- 1 2 3 Allen p. 347
- ↑ Rodger (2004), p. 420
- ↑ James & Chamier, William & Frederick (1837). The Naval History of Great Britain: From the Declaration of War by France in 1793, to the Accession of George IV. R. Bentley. p. 37.
- ↑ Clarke & Jones, James Stanier & Stephen (1807). The Naval Chronicle, Volume 18. J. Gold. pp. 354–55.
- ↑ "Introducing the Carronade". Age of Sail: Life at sea during the age of wooden ships and iron men. 22 February 2009. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
- 1 2 Gardiner, p. 94
Bibliography
edit- Allen, Joseph (1852). Battles of the British Navy. H.G. Bohn. ASIN B009ZMMQ56.
- Blake, Nicholas (2005). The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy. Stackpole Books. ISBN 9780811732758.
- Gardiner, Robert (2000). Frigates of the Napoleonic Wars. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1861762924.
- Lee, Sidney, ed. (1899). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 57. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Rodger, Nicholas (2004). The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649–1815. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-028896-4.
External links
edit- "L'Hébé". Archived from the original on 14 October 2008.
- "Origins of the Leda class frigate". Archived from the original on 21 April 2013.