Action of 22 August 1795

Action of 22 August 1795
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Defeat of the Dutch Fleet off Egerö, 22 August 1795, Nicholas Pocock, 1795
Date 22 August 1795 Location Off Eigerøya, North Sea Result British victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	Batavian Republic
Commanders and leaders
James Alms	Van Dirckinck[1]
Strength
1 ship of the line 3 frigates	2 frigates 1 cutter
Casualties and losses
5 killed 18 wounded	2 killed 15 wounded 1 frigate captured

58°26′35″N 05°49′00″E / 58.44306°N 5.81667°E / 58.44306; 5.81667

Action

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Map of the North Sea, the battle identified by the red mark

The action of 22 August 1795 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of four British Royal Navy frigates and two frigates and a cutter from the Batavian Navy. The engagement was fought off the Norwegian coastal island of Eigerøya, then in Denmark-Norway, the opposing forces engaged in protecting their respective countries' trade routes to the Baltic Sea. War between Britain and the Batavian Republic began, undeclared, in the spring of 1795 after the Admiralty ordered British warships to intercept Batavian shipping following the conquest of the Dutch Republic by the French Republic in January 1795.

A British squadron of four frigates under the command of Captain James Alms was patrolling the entrance to the Skagerrak in August 1795 when three sails were spotted off the Norwegian coast to the north. Closing to investigate, the ships were discovered to be a Batavian squadron of two frigates and a small cutter. In the face of the larger British squadron the Batavian force turned away, sailing southeast along the Norwegian coast with the British approaching from the south in an effort to cut them off from the neutral Norwegian shore. At 16:15 the leading British ship HMS Stag caught and engaged the rearmost Batavian ship Alliantie (cdr. Claas Jager^[2]); the remainder of the British squadron continued in pursuit of the Batavian squadron. For an hour Alliantie traded broadsides with the more powerful Stag and was eventually compelled to surrender. The remainder of the Batavian squadron escaped due to a fierce rearguard action by the frigate Argo, reaching the safety of the Dano-Norwegian harbour at Eigerøya.