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During the age of sail when Britain was at war with France and her allies fleets of the Royal Navy were usually found blockading the French ports. This was a mundane task and therefore rarely features in historic naval fiction although ‘Hornblower and the Hotspur’ is a notable exception. Authors therefore tend to concentrate on the other tasks the Navy performed. However when the big fleets did engage one another these battles were often turning points and authors therefore like to use these them as backdrops for novels. They will often have a character onboard one of the ships or a fictional ship assigned to a peripheral role in the action.
These are the main fleet actions.
| 12 April 1782 |
Battle of the Saintes |
The major fleet action of the American War of Independence, the battle took place over 4 days in the West Indies between Dominica Guadeloupe.
The  British fleet under Sir George Rodney defeated the  French fleet under the Comte De Grasse
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| 1 June 1794 |
Glorious First of June |
The first fleet action of the Revolutionary War, the battle took place over 3 days 400 nautical miles (740 km) west of Ushant in the Atlantic Ocean
The British fleet under Lord Howe defeated the French fleet under Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse
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| 14 February 1797 |
Battle of Cape St. Vincent |
The Battle took place off the Spanish Coast.
The British fleet under John Jervis defeated the  Spanish fleet under Jose de Cordoba
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| 11 October 1797 |
Battle of Camperdown |
The Battle took place in the North Sea
The British fleet under Adam Duncan defeated the  Dutch fleet under Jan Willem de Winter.
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| 1 August 1798 |
Battle of the Nile |
The Battle took place in Aboukir Bay, Egypt.
The British fleet under Sir Horatio Nelson defeated the French fleet under Francois-Paul Brueys D’Aigalliers
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| 2 April 1801 |
Battle of Copenhagen |
The Battle took place anchored off Copenhagen
The British fleet under Sir Horatio Nelson (overall command Sir Hyde Parker) defeated the  Danish fleet under Olfert Fischer and Steen Bille
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| 21 October 1805 |
Battle of Trafalgar |
The Battle took place off the Spanish Coast.
The British fleet under Lord Nelson defeated a combined French and  Spanish fleet under Pierre de Villeneuve and Federico Gravina
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General HNF Info 
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