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 |
| 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 |
| 14 February 1797 | Battle of Cape St. Vincent |
The Battle took place off the Spanish Coast. The |
| 11 October 1797 | Battle of Camperdown |
The Battle took place in the North Sea The |
| 1 August 1798 | Battle of the Nile |
The Battle took place in Aboukir Bay, Egypt. The |
| 2 April 1801 | Battle of Copenhagen |
The Battle took place anchored off Copenhagen The |
| 21 October 1805 | Battle of Trafalgar |
The Battle took place off the Spanish Coast. The |
| 11 April 1809 | Battle of Basque Roads |
The Battle took place off the coast of France. The |
British fleet under Sir George Rodney defeated the 
French fleet under the Comte De Grasse
Spanish fleet under Jose de Cordoba
Dutch fleet under Jan Willem de Winter.
Danish fleet under Olfert Fischer and Steen Bille