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The Action of 25 September 1806 was a naval battle fought during the Napoleonic Wars off the French Biscay port of Rochefort. A French squadron comprising five frigates and two corvettes, sailing to the French West Indies with supplies and reinforcements, was intercepted by a British squadron of six ships of the line that was keeping a close blockade of the port as part of the Atlantic campaign of 1806. The British ships, under the command of Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, spotted the French convoy early in the morning of 25 September, just a few hours after the French had left port, and immediately gave chase. Although the French ships tried to escape, they were heavily laden with troops and stores, and the strong winds favoured the larger ships of the line, which caught the French convoy after a five-hour pursuit, although they had become separated from one another during the chase. At 05:00 the leading British ship, HMS ''Monarch'', was within range and opened fire on the French squadron, which divided. One frigate went north and was intercepted by HMS ''Mars'', while another, accompanied by the two corvettes, turned south and managed to outrun HMS ''Windsor Castle''. The main body of the French force remained together and met the attack of ''Monarch'' and the British flagship HMS ''Centaur'' with their broadsides. Although outnumbered and outclassed by the British squadron the French ships fought hard, inflicting damage on the leading British ships and severely wounding Commodore Hood. Eventually the strength of the British squadron told, and despite a fierce resistance the French ships surrendered one by one, the British capturing four of the seven vessels in the squadron. ==Background== The principal naval campaign of 1806 was fought in the Atlantic Ocean, following a raid by two large French battle squadrons on British trade routes, focused particularly on the Caribbean.〔Gardiner, p. 20〕 The security of the French Caribbean was under severe threat during the wars, as the Royal Navy dominated the region and restricted French movements both between the islands and between the West Indies and France itself. This dominance was enforced by rigorous blockade, in which British ships attempted to ensure that no French military or commercial vessel was able to enter or leave French harbours both in Europe and in the French colonies. In the Caribbean, this strategy was designed to destroy the economies and morale of the French West Indian territories in preparation for attack by British expeditionary forces.〔Gardiner, p. 17〕 To counter this strategy, the French government repeatedly sent convoys and individual warships to the French Caribbean islands with supplies of food, military equipment and reinforcements. These resupply efforts ranged from small individual corvettes to large battle squadrons and were under orders to avoid conflict wherever possible. Despite these orders, many were intercepted by British blockade forces, either in the Caribbean or off the French coast itself.〔Gardiner, p. 78〕 The largest French resupply effort of the Napoleonic Wars was a squadron under Contre-Admiral Corentin-Urbain Leissègues, sent to Santo Domingo in December 1805 with troops and supplies. In conjunction with a second squadron under Vice-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, this force was then ordered to raid British trade routes and disrupt the movement of British merchant shipping across the Atlantic.〔 Leissègues reached Santo Domingo in February 1806, but within days a British battle squadron had intercepted and destroyed his force at the Battle of San Domingo. Willaumez was able to avoid attack by British forces during the spring of 1806, and cruised in the Caribbean during much of the summer, but his force was eventually dispersed by a hurricane in August and the survivors forced to shelter on the American Eastern Seaboard.〔James, p. 208〕 Unaware of the dispersal of Willaumez's squadron, the British naval authorities sought to block its return to Europe by stationing strong battle squadrons off the principal French Atlantic ports. One of their most important targets was the city of Rochefort, heavily fortified port in which a powerful French naval force was based, and a squadron of six Royal Navy ships of the line was assigned to watch it in case Willaumez attempted to return there. In August, command of the blockade squadron was awarded to Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, a highly experience naval commander.〔 In Rochefort, an expedition was planned to carry supplies to the French West Indies while the British were distracted by Willaumez's operations. Assigned to the operation was Commodore Eleonore-Jean-Nicolas Soleil, an officer who had served on Allemand's expedition, a successful operation the year before.〔James, p. 148〕 To carry the supplies and reinforcements, Soleil was provided with seven ships: Four large modern frigates rated at 40-guns but actually carrying 44–46, a smaller and older frigate of 36 guns and two small corvettes of 16 guns each. All of the ships were heavily laden, each carrying as many as 650 men, but it was hoped that their size and speed would allow them to defeat anything smaller than they were and to escape anything larger.〔 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「Action of 25 September 1806」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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