Capture of Trincomalee (1795)

Capture of Trincomalee Part of the War of the First Coalition Date August 1795 Location Trincomalee, then a Dutch colony in present-day Sri Lanka 8°32′56.79″N 81°14′15.78″E / 8.5491083°N 81.2377167°E / 8.5491083; 81.2377167Coordinates: 8°32′56.79″N 81°14′15.78″E / 8.5491083°N 81.2377167°E / 8.5491083; 81.2377167 Result British decisive victory Belligerents  Great Britain  Batavian Republic Commanders and leaders Peter Rainier Major Fornbauer

War of the First Coalition Porrentruy Marquain Verdun Thionville Valmy Lille 1st Mainz Jemappes Namur Maastricht 1st Aldenhoven Neerwinden Condé 2nd Mainz Raismes Famars Bellegarde San Pietro and Sant'Antioco 1st Arlon Valenciennes Caesar's Camp Lincelles Landau Dunkirk Le Quesnoy Hondshoote Avesnes-le-Sec Menin Méribel Pirmasens Peyrestortes Toulon Truillas Maubeuge 1st Wissembourg Fort-Louis Wattignies Haguenau 1st Kaiserslautern Froeschwiller 2nd Wissembourg Fort-Dauphin Martinique Saint-Florent Le Cateau Bastia Guadeloupe 2nd Arlon 1st Landrecies Villers-en-Cauchies Saorgio Beaumont Mouscron Boulou Courtrai Grandreng Tourcoing 3rd Arlon Tournay 2nd Kaiserslautern Erquelinnes Ushant Gosselies Ypres Lambusart Fleurus Calvi Vosges Baztan San-Lorenzo Sprimont 3rd Kaiserslautern 1st Dego 2nd Aldenhoven Orbaitzeta Luxembourg Black Mountain Roses Helder Gulf of Roses Fréjus Genoa Groix Quiberon Hyères Handschuhsheim Höchst 3rd Mainz Pfeddersheim Mannheim Loano Voltri Montenotte Millesimo 2nd Dego Ceva Mondovì Cherasco Fombio Lodi Borghetto Altenkirchen Wetzlar 1st Kehl Mantua Ettlingen Lonato Castiglione Peschiera Neresheim Friedberg Amberg Friedberg Newfoundland Würzburg Rovereto 1st Bassano Limburg 2nd Kehl Biberach Emmendingen Schliengen Hüningen 3rd Kehl 2nd Bassano Calliano Caldiero Arcole Expédition d'Irlande Rivoli Faenza Fishguard Valvasone Tyrol Tarvis Neuwied Diersheim Veronese Easter Camperdown War in the Vendée War of the Pyrenees Flanders Campaign Rhine Campaign of 1796 Anglo-Spanish War

The Capture of Trincomalee was the taking by force of the port of Trincomalee in the island of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) by British forces on August 26, 1795. The principal fortress, Fort Ostenburg, held out until August 31.

On 23 July 1795 a squadron under Commodore Peter Rainier consisting of Suffolk, Hobart, Centurion, Diomede, with troop-transports, and sailed for Ceylon to take Trincomalee and other Dutch settlements on Ceylon. On 2 August 1795 Diomede, with a transport brig in tow, struck on a sunken rock and sank. She went down with all her stores on board but boats from the squadron saved her crew.

Although the loss of Diomede delayed the landing by a day, on 31 August the British captured Fort Ostenburg and with it complete control of Trincomalee. The British would go on to capture other Dutch settlements in India and Ceylon, but denying Trincomalee to the French was the most important objective.^[1] The British held Trincomalee until Sri Lanka's independence in 1948.

References

• Ceylon under British Rule, 1795-1932