Action of 21 October 1794

Action of 21 October 1794
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Map of the region, the approximate location of the action marked in red
Date 21 October 1794 Location Off Ushant, Atlantic Ocean Result British victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	France
Commanders and leaders
Edward Pellew	Antoine Thévenard
Strength
4 frigates	1 frigate
Casualties and losses
3 killed 5 wounded	8 killed 5 wounded 1 frigate captured

The action of 21 October 1794 was a minor naval engagement between Great Britain and France fought off the Breton coast of France during the second year of the French Revolutionary Wars. French frigates had been raiding British Atlantic trade routes with considerable success since the outbreak of the war, and in response the Admiralty had formed a frigate squadron to patrol the French Channel and Atlantic coasts in search of French raiders. On 13 October 1794, the large, modern and powerful 40-gun French frigate Révolutionnaire under the command of Captain Antoine René Thévenard sailed from Le Havre for a raiding cruise against British trade routes in the Atlantic. Eight days later, while rounding the Breton headland of Ushant about 25–30 nautical miles (56 km) out to sea, Révolutionnaire encountered the British frigate squadron, commanded by Commodore Sir Edward Pellew, which had secured a number of victories over French raiding frigates during the previous two years.

Pellew ordered his ships to give chase, as Thévenard fled towards the French coast before the British numerical supremacy. One British ship was faster than the others, the 38-gun HMS Artois under Captain Edmund Nagle cutting Révolutionnaire off from the shore and bringing the larger French ship to action. For 45 minutes Artois battled Révolutionnaire until support arrived, at which point the French frigate's crew surrendered their ship in defiance of their captain's orders. Casualties and damage were light on both sides, and Révolutionnaire was rapidly commissioned into the Royal Navy, joining the squadron that had captured her and subsequently capturing the French frigate Unité at the action of 13 April 1796.