Template:Wp-Battle of Hyères Islands

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The Battle of the Hyères Islands was a naval engagement fought between a combined British and Neapolitan fleet and the French Mediterranean Fleet on 13 July 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Since the start of the war in 1793 the French fleet had suffered a series of damaging defeats and was restricted to limited operations off the French Mediterranean Coast in the face of a determined allied blockade. The French fleet, commanded by Pierre Martin, had sought to test the blockade during 1795, and in March had been caught by the British, under William Hotham, in the Gulf of Genoa. At the ensuing Battle of Genoa two French ships were captured before Martin was able to retreat to a safe anchorage.

During the spring Martin and Hotham both received reinforcements from their respective Atlantic Fleets, the British admiral sailing off Minorca while Martin was forced to put down a mutiny among his sailors. By June Hotham had returned to the Ligurian Sea, anchored in San Fiorenzo Bay, when the French fleet sailed once more. In early July Martin's fleet was discovered off Cap Corse by a British flying squadron under Captain Horatio Nelson and, with some delay, Hotham set off in pursuit. Martin retreated towards the safe anchorage of the Îles d'Hyères, but on 13 July his straggling ships were caught by the British vanguard. In a short battle the British cut off the rearmost ship and forced it to surrender.

Alcide had caught fire during the action and blew up shortly afterwards with heavy loss of life. Hotham was in a position to attack the surviving French fleet but declined, to the frustration of his officers and the criticism of later historians. The British retained their blockade, and Martin did not contest it again for the remainder of the year. This was the last fleet action in the Mediterranean before the British fleet was forced to withdraw in late 1796 – the next major engagement in the region was the Battle of the Nile in 1798.