The Battle of Barfleur

The Battle of Barfleur was fought on 29 May 1692. The battle of Barfleur itself was undecided, but when the French fleet could not find a safe haven afterward it lost 15 ships in the actions of Cherbourg and La Hogue. This secured Anglo-Dutch supremacy in the Channel for a few years, but the real decision was made by the governments in London and Versailles. The government in London decided to secure the advantage by building more ships. Versailles decided to concentrate on continental warfare.

Prelude to the Battle of Barfleur

After the Battle of Beachy Head the French fleet had not been able to profit much from its victory in 1691¹. King Louis however wanted to make William III leave the continent by starting an invasion of Ireland. For this purpose about 12,000 soldiers were concentrated on the Cotentin peninsula under the command of Maréchal de Bellefonds. On returning from the Mediterranean Vice Admiral d'Estrées had to escort those across the Channel with 12 ships of the line. Meanwhile Tourville would keep the enemy in check with 60 ships.

The French knew full well that the Dutch and English fleets in the Channel were larger, and that in normal circumstances such an operation could end in disaster. The experiences at Beachy Head², the assurances of James II, and probably actual contact with traitors, had however led Louis XIV to belief that it was rather doubtful that the English fleet would actually fight. Queen Mary did indeed arrest a lot of persons and 8 officers of the English fleet³. On 25 May 1692 a lot of senior officers of the English fleet made a protestation of their loyalty by signing a declaration on board the Brittania⁴. I do not know whether this indeed quelled a potential serious rebellion/treason in the fleet, or whether this had not been considered when Tourville had been given his orders.

Tourville sails into the Channel

The Mediterranean squadron of d'Estrées left Toulon in early May and arrived near the Strait of Gibraltar on 18 May. Here he was however beaten back by storm. His ships were quite seriously damaged and two were lost to the weather. The lost ships were the l'Assuré commanded by the chevalier de Chateaurenaud and Le Sage commanded by De la Guiche⁵. The result was that d'Estrées would not arrive in the Channel till after the battle. Tourville meanwhile sailed into the Channel with a fleet that had been weakened by material shortages, ships not arriving, weather etc. Let's look at the composition of his fleet⁶ of 44 ships of the line on 27 May⁷, and the ships the French reported in port afterwards⁸:

The French fleet at Barfleur

Possible doubt about the above list:

Its divisions⁹

The English and Ducth fleets in the Battle of Barfleur

The actual Battle of Barfleur

The actual battle of Barfleur happened on 29 May 1692 and ended without losses for the French. In the night the battle was ended and the next morning at seven o'clock 35 ships assembled with Tourville. Seven under Nesmond had sailed for La Hogue and three under Gabaret had sailed in the direction of the English coast. At 8 o'clock in the morning the French main fleet was about a lieue (almost 4 km) removed from the allied fleet, and this should have been enough to escape. The heavily damaged Soleil Royal was however not able to keep up and at 18:00PM the distance was only two km. The French then decided to try to escape by taking the route of the Raz de Blanchard, a channel with heavy currents between Guernsey, Alderney and Cotentin.

The French split in three parts and make for St. Malo; Cherbourg and La Hogue

During the night of the 30-31st the fleet entered the Raz. The heavy currents in this channel did however split the French fleet in three parts. The lighter ships, numbering about 20 would succeed in escaping through the Raz and reaching St. Malo. The three most damaged ships; the Soleil Royal; l'Admirable and Thriomphant beached near Cherbourg. 13 others were stopped by the eb before getting through the Raz and had to throw their anchors. These anchors did however not succeed in fixing them against the strong currents. Tourville (who had changed ships) with 10 ships therefore refuged himself at La Hogue and was there joined by two of Nesmond's ships. The names of the ships at La Hogue were: l'Ambitieux; Le Merveilleux; Le Foudroyant, Le Magnifique, Le Saint Philipppe, Le Fier, Le Fort, Le Tonnant, Le Terrible, Le Gaillard, Le Bourbon and Le Saint Louis. The Anglo-Dutch also divided in three parts.

Action of Cherbourg and La Hogue

The first part of the Anglo-Dutch fleet pursued the twenty ships which had escaped throgh the Raz. These ships did however succeed in reaching Saint Malo on 1 June. The second part of 17 ships of the line and 8 burners attacked the three ships at Cherbourg. The third part of the enemy fleet composed of 40 ships and burners followed Tourville to La Hogue. Later the first two parts joined the first. The result was that all the ships that were at Cherbourg and La Hogue were destroyed.

The naval balance of power after Cherbourg and La Hoque

The defeats of Barfleur, Cherbourg and La Hogue are mostly perceived as the end of France's bid to command the ocean. Others state that the loss of 15 ships of the line could hardly spell the end for a navy that had about 90. Indeed the French still had about 70 ships of the line in their Atlantic ports after La Hogue. It could have diverted the war effort and have manned these 70 ships, but that would not have been sufficient to challenge the Anglo-Dutch. Such a 'new' fleet would have consisted of about 70 ships of the line, of which 12 with 80+ guns. They would have had to face an Anglo-Dutch fleet of about 99 ships of the Line, of which 28 with 80+ guns. The loss of 11 ships of 80+ guns thus made that the French would also be at a disadvantage in quality and could not hope for victory in a full confrontation.

Considering the time it normally took to build ships the Battle of Barfleur had decided who would be supreme at sea for a few years. This effect of the Battle of Barfleur was amplified by the fact that in the years after Barfleur about thirty English and a dozen Dutch ships which had been ordered after 1688 started to arrive in the line of Battle. On the French side only a handful of ships did. Restoring the situation to how it was before Barfleur would therefore have meant ordering about 50 ships of the line and waiting at least three years for them to compleat. Apart from the financial strain this would have caused in France the necessary supply of wood was probably not available.

Shortly before Barfleur France had taken Namur and therefore it hoped to destroy its enemies on land. In such circumstances, and assuming it was correct in expecting to win on land, the French decision to withdraw from the naval race was therefore correct. The expectations for a victory on land were however themselves diminished by the effects of Barfleur. The expected victory on land had to come in a few years or the economic effects of Barfleur would annihilate the economy that sustained the army.

Notes