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The Battle of Île Ronde was a minor naval engagement between small French Navy and British Royal Navy squadrons off Île de France, now named Mauritius, in the early stages of the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle was fought over control of the waters around Île de France, which was under blockade from the British squadron as French warships and privateers operating from the island posed a significant threat to vital British trade routes connected to British India and China. In an attempt to neutralise the island, the British commander in the region, Peter Rainier ordered the 50-gun HMS ''Centurion'' and 44-gun to institute a blockade, which began in October 1794. Concerned by food shortages and a rebellious slave population the French naval commander Jean-Marie Renaud led his small squadron comprising frigates ''Cybèle'' and ''Prudente'' and three smaller vessels to drive off the British squadron. On 22 October, the squadrons met off Île Ronde, an islet off northern Île de France. The battle lasted two and a quarter hours, in which ''Centurion'' and ''Cybèle'' fought a close duel which left both ships badly damaged. Supported by the remainder of the squadron, ''Cybèle'' successfully withdrew under fire, but ''Centurion'', without support from the distant ''Diomede'' was also forced to retire for repairs. Unable to continue the blockade the British force returned to India, allowing food supplies to reach Île de France. Due to the necessity for campaigns against Dutch Ceylon and the Dutch East Indies, the British blockade was not renewed, but the French were unable to take advantage due to increasing civil unrest among the island's population. ==Background== War between the French Republic and Great Britain began on 1 February 1793, news arriving among the French and British East Indian colonies on 11 June 1793.〔James, p.119〕 The strongest French positions in the Indian Ocean were the islands of Île de France and Réunion,〔Parkinson, p.19〕 which lay substantially to the west of the British bases at Bombay and Madras in British India.〔Parkinson, p.11〕 A small French frigate squadron, supported by smaller warships and privateers operated from the islands posing a considerable threat to British maritime trade in the Indian Ocean.〔 To counter the threat the British commander in the region, Captain Peter Rainier ordered two of his ships to blockade the island during the summer of 1794. Rainer's force comprised the 50-gun fourth rate ship 50-gun HMS ''Centurion'' under Captain Samuel Osborne and the large 44-gun frigate under Captain Matthew Smith.〔 Together the ships sailed from Madras on 30 August 1794, stopping at the allied port of Trincomalee in Dutch Ceylon and the undefended French-controlled island of Rodrigues before arriving off Île de France in October.〔Parkinson, p.74〕 Île de France had been in a state of turmoil since the French Revolution and in 1792 the republican party on the island seized control. In 1794 suspected royalists were arrested, including the naval commander , their executions forestalled by the arrival of news that the French Convention had abolished slavery.〔 Only the intervention of Governor Malartic prevented unrest. The preoccupation of the naval authorities had prevented any offensive operations and the reduced squadron, now commanded by Captain Jean-Marie Renaud, remained in Port Louis.〔Parkinson, p.72〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Île Ronde」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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