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Battle of Beachy Head
Part of the War of the Grand Alliance
Battle of Beachy Head Steel engraving by Jean Antoine Theodore Gudin.
Date 10 July 1690 Location Off Beachy Head, English Channel Result French victory
Combatants
France	England Dutch Republic
Commanders
Comte de Tourville	Earl of Torrington
Strength
75 ships	59 ships
Casualties
344 dead 811 wounded	12 ships[1]

The Battle of Beachy Head – known in France as the Bataille de Bévezier – was a naval engagement fought on 10 July 1690 during the War of the Grand Alliance. The Allied fleet consisted of 59 ships and was commanded by Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington; the French fleet, comprising 75 ships, was commanded by Anne Hilarion de Contentin, Comte de Tourville.

The Battle of Beachy Head was the greatest French tactical naval victory over their English and Dutch opponents.^[2] However, due in part to financial restraints, within a few years the French had abandoned fleet warfare, guerre d’escadre, for commerce raiding, guerre de course.

[edit] Background

During the early phase of the War of the Grand Alliance, the French navy had achieved some success. On 6 May 1689, a French fleet of 39 men-of-war, commanded by Château-Renault, departed from Brest to ferry over supplies and French troops to assist James II’s struggle in Ireland in his attempts to regain the English crown. However, the presence of the English Admiral, Authur Herbert (soon to be known as Lord Torrington), had made offloading at Kinsale impossible, therefore forcing Château-Renault on 10 May, to anchor his fleet in Bantry Bay. The following morning, Herbert’s squadron of 19 ships of the line approached the French, but Château-Renault, enjoying the weather gauge, managed to drive Torrington out of the bay and into the open sea.^[3] The four hour battle was somewhat inconclusive – little damage occurred to either fleet – but the French action had enabled the transports to unload their supplies.^[4] The French fleet returned to Brest on 18 May.

The Allies also had some success. On 10 August1689, Admiral Rooke had been able to transport troops from England to northern Ireland to break the siege of Londonderry; Later, he landed Marshal Schomberg's forces near Carrickfergus and was able to keep open communications between England and Ireland. But the following year in 1690, the disparity of naval forces were still in France’s favour.^[5] French strategy was twofold: either use the fleet to engage and sufficiently destroy the Allied fleet, or alternatively, make the fleet subsidiary to the Irish campaign. Louis decided on the former.^[6]

Although 6,000 French troops under the command of Comte de Lauzun were successfully ferried across to Ireland to aid James on 17 March, the French fleet returned to Brest and there remained inactive during May and June while the grand fleet under the Comte de Tourville was assembling.^[7]

[edit] Prelude

[edit] Battle

Map showing the Battle of Beachy Head 1690 and the earlier, inconclusive engagement, the Battle of Bantry Bay in 1689.

Tourville, commanding 75 ships of the line and 23 fireships, sailed from Brest on 23 June. The French Admiral divided his force into three squadrons - red, white and blue. Tourville, aboard the Soleil Royal, commanded the centre, or ‘white’, squadron.^[8] Together with the Royal Louis, the Soleil Royal was the largest ship built during the reign of King Louis, rating at 120 guns and 2,400 tons. In total, Tourville’s fleet comprised 4,600 cannon against the 4,153 guns in the Allied fleet. The Allied fleet now only had 57 English and Dutch ships of the line; much of the Royal Navy had been diverted to protect their maritime commerce from privateers.^[9]

On 2 July, the French fleet came up to the Allied fleet of the Isle of Wight, and for several days sailed westwards up the English Channel, shadowing one another. Admiral Torrington was reluctant to engage such a large enemy fleet but, despite the odds, on 9 July he received a direct order from Queen Mary to fight the French.^[10] The following day off Beachy Head near Eastbourne, Torrington advanced towards the French in line of battle.

In the van for the French, the ‘blue’ squadron commanded by Château-Renault, engaged the van of the Allied fleet, comprised mainly of Dutch vessels. The Dutch took a heavy pounding before more of Torrington’s ships came up in support. However,

[edit] Aftermath

court martial boyne French fleet dismantling Teighmouth

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Churchill, Winston. A History of the English-Speaking Peoples: Age of Revolution. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, (2002). ISBN 0-304-36393-6
• Dupuy, R. E & Dupuy, T. N. The Collins Encyclopaedia of Military History 4th ed. HarperCollins Publishers, (1995). ISBN 0062700561
• Guizot, Francois P. G. A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times, Volume V. [1]
• Lynn, John A. The French wars 1667–1714: The Sun King at War. Osprey Publishing, (2002). ISBN 1-84176-361-6
• Lynn, John A. The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667–1714. Longman, ISBN 0-582-05629-2
• Macauley, Thomas. The History Of England: Volume 3. [2]
• Mahan, Alfred Thayer. The Influence of Sea Power on History, 1660-1783. [3]

The triumphant naval battle delivered by Tourville to the English and Dutch fleets off Beachy Head was a great humiliation for the maritime powers. "I cannot express to you," wrote William III to the grand pensionary Heinsius, holding in his absence the government of the Dutch Republic, "how distressed I am at the disasters of the fleet; I am so much the more deeply affected as I have been informed that my ships did not properly support those of the Estates, and left them in the lurch." - Guizot