The Battle of Barfleur

King Louis XIV and his naval minister, Ponchartren , made plans to land an army in England and restore James II to the throne. At first it was planned to start the invasion in April 1692 , until the English and Dutch fleets went to sea and joined. The troops were assembled in Saint-Vast-la-Hoge, the cavalry and guns were supposed to be loaded onto transports in Le Havre . Tourville was to leave the Brest fleet with the fleet, pick up transports and, dropping the English fleet, land the army in England.

However, the French were unable to concentrate on time; The Toulon fleet d'Estre was driven back by a storm in the Strait of Gibraltar , with the loss of 2 ships, and Villette-Mürse with the Rochefort squadron delayed the exit. Tourville’s Brest fleet was understaffed.

Thurville opposed the king's withdrawal with weakened forces, but his letters probably did not go further than Ponchartren’s office. Times have changed; the fleet, and Tourville himself, came out of favor. He received a direct order from the minister in the name of the king: to go to sea and give battle immediately. The order contained barely veiled accusations of cowardice. ^[3] After this, Tourville gathered a council of war, where he announced that he intended to fight no matter what.

When he left on April 29 ^[4] , he was forced to leave 20 Chateau-Renault ships in the port. Once again, adverse winds delayed him, and until May 2 he could not get out of the Bertum raid. Tourville entered the Canal with a fleet of 37 battleships , accompanied by 7 firewalls , as well as frigates , messenger ships and transports. On May 15, there was a rendezvous with the Rochefort squadron of Villett-Mürse: 7 linear and escort, which gave Tourville 44 linear, and from 70 to 80 pennants in total.

Meanwhile, an allied fleet was assembled at St. Helens ( Isle of Wight ). Delawal arrived on May 8 ; Carter joined him the next day, returning after escorting a convoy in the western part of the canal and delivering troops to Guernsey .

The Dutch fleet, under the command of Almonde , which left Texel in April, moved south. Ashby left Nora by April 27th . Russell lingered until April 29 , but made up for time, taking a chance and passing through Gall. He met Almond on the Downs raid, and another Dutch squadron at Dangeness, arriving at St. Helens in the second week of May. In the next few days, more units approached, until May 14, Russell's forces did not exceed 80 ships of the line, not counting the others. Thus, by May 14, when the Allied fleet had fully assembled, the strategic goal of the French, to act concentratedly while the Allies were scattered, became unattainable.

Opponents discovered each other at dawn on May 19, 1692 , at Cape Barfleur. Seeing the Allied fleet, Turville held a meeting with the officers (see above), and decided to fight. With a slight breeze from the southwest fleet slowly approached: Russell from the northeast, Tourville, from the windward, on the right tack from the south, trying to bring his line in contact with Russell. Both fleets consisted of three squadrons, each divided into three divisions under the command of the younger flagships .

Due to calm weather, the battle did not begin until 11 a.m., five hours after the first discovery. Tourville strengthened his center, a white squadron under his own command, to be roughly on par with Russell's red squadron. In other places, he sought to minimize damage by stretching and blocking the vanguard to prevent the enemy from getting around and crushing him, and the rearguard was ordered to keep distance in order to maintain the wind. In response, Russell did not open fire for as long as possible to allow the French to approach; Almonde with the vanguard stretched forward, trying to block the French line, and Ashby, from the rear and at a distance, sought to draw close to the enemy and force his blue squadron to battle. From about 11 a.m. and for several hours, a shootout lasted, with significant damage to both sides.

The fight lasted all day and part of the night, and was full of surprises. About an hour in the afternoon, a change of wind allowed Chauvel to break through the French line, and the Dutch begin to embrace the avant-garde; at 4 pm dead calm came, both fleets were in fog; at 6 p.m. Turville was able to linger on the tide and received a respite, and at 8 p.m. Chauvel used the same tide to attack with firewalls (unsuccessful).

By 10 pm, the battle was almost over. Oddly enough, although most of the ships on both sides were damaged, some seriously, not one was lost. Now, Tourville took advantage of the ebb, chopping off the anchors and letting the current carry himself to the Channel, away from the battlefield. Realizing what had happened, Russell also chopped off the anchors, and set off for the night chase.

Turvil’s fight at Barfleur is estimated as a skillful and decisive encounter with a superior opponent. ^[5] It is noteworthy that with a power ratio of 1: 2, Turville managed to keep the line, and not lose a single ship. But this ended only the first battle.

On May 20, the French retreat was hampered by winds and tides, and due to the economy of the French Ministry of the Sea, many ships did not have enough anchors to withstand strong tidal currents in the canal. The absence of a fortified harbor in Cherbourg also played a role. Tourville seems to have tried too long to save his magnificent flagship Soleil Royal , but finally realized that it was hopeless and switched to Ambitieux , the flagship of Willett-Murse.

4 ships, including Orgueilleux Gabare and Souverain Langeron, turned out to be north of all and, bypassing the British, went across the Atlantic to Brest. Two ships of Nesmond went to Le Havre, one of them crashed aground at the entrance to the port. Two more ran aground at Saint-Vast-la-Hog. Nesmond with the other two passed the Dover Strait , circled the British Isles and finally came to Brest.

The most damaged ships (21 at Delaval and 13 at Tourville) remained anchored under La Hog. The weather spoiled on May 21 put them aground. Others tried to land on shore in Cherbourg (3) and take refuge in Saint-Malo . All this time, the Allies, led by the Dutch, pursued the French. When they overtook the immobilized enemy, the second stage began, known as the battle of La Hogue .

• Barfleur // Military Encyclopedia : [in 18 vol.] / Ed. V.F. Novitsky [et al.]. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-va I. D. Sytin , 1911-1915.