Action of 8 March 1795

Action of 8 March 1795
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Approximate region of location of battle
Date 8 March 1795 Location Off Cap Corse, Ligurian Sea Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Louis Lejoille	Adam Littlejohn  †
Strength
1 frigate, supported by French Mediterranean Fleet	1 ship of the line
Casualties and losses
8 wounded	1 killed, 4 wounded 1 ship of the line captured

The action of 8 March 1795 was a minor naval engagement in the Mediterranean theatre of the French Revolutionary Wars. The action was part of series of battles fought in the spring of 1795 between British and French fleets for control of the Ligurian Sea and thus the blockade of the French naval base of Toulon. The engagement was the first significant action of the year and was fought principally between the damaged British 74-gun ship of the line HMS Berwick and the French 32-gun frigate Alceste, with the later assistance of the frigate Vestale and the 74-gun Duquesne, distantly supported by the rest of the French Mediterranean Fleet.

The action took place against the backdrop of a wider campaign, in which much of the French fleet had been badly damaged in 1793 during the Siege of Toulon. Freshly repaired, the French had sailed on a mission to intimidate the neutral city of Genoa and possibly invade British-held Corsica. The British fleet had until recently been anchored for the winter in San Fiorenzo Bay off Northern Corsica, but Vice-Admiral William Hotham sailed for Leghorn for refit in late February and left behind Berwick, which had been badly damaged in an accident over the winter. Equipped with the rigging of a frigate and mounting only 64-guns, Captain Adam Littlejohn was under orders to follow the fleet when practical, but in doing so in early March he ran straight into Contre-amiral Pierre Martin's French fleet. Two French ships of the line and three frigates sailed to intercept Berwick, and the frigate Alceste arrived first; most of the action took place between the disabled British ship and the French frigate.

Littlejohn was killed after an hour's combat, and the inability of the British ship to manoeuvre, the arrival of a second frigate, and the looming presence of the larger French detachment in pursuit convinced the surviving British officers that resistance was futile. Berwick was surrendered and taken first to Gourjean Bay and later to Toulon. The ship served with the French Navy for ten years, before being recaptured at the Battle of Trafalgar. Martin's fleet was intercepted by Hotham's a few days later in the Gulf of Genoa, and at the ensuing battle two French ships were lost.