Boating and Sailing
I am trying to study examples of actual naval ambushes conducted in open oceans (not seas) in the sailing ship era. Replies with URL links are appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Thanks for reading and providing answers. It is important that two aspects are noted:
1) Open ocean only, any of the five. Straits, seas, inlets, rivers and harbours as a start of engagement are excluded;
2) Sailing ships in the context of pre-steam engines era. This does include Viking knorrs and any other ocean vessel that is primarily powered by sails.
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5 Comments
I’m an amateur naval historian; have read seven quintillion words about fighting in the Age of Sail, could certainly sail Constitution and probably fight her…….and your question has had me swinging for three days.
Let me be clear…actual open ocean….no sneaking around a headland and pouncing on the enemy at night……..Hornblowers Lydia taking Natividad comes to mind……..? Like say for example in Master and Commander the movie Surprise running into a fog bank and getting hit by the enemy frigate awaiting her?
Damn if I can think of one……….you would need to have fog bank to lurk in, see the enemy and track him w/o him seeing you…….closest I can think of is Jervis(? maybe Kieth) running a few of his ships between Spanish ships off Gibraltar at night and getting the Spanish to shoot at each other in the confusion…
great question…….!!!
A manouvre often carried out by pirates. Blackbeard the pirate had a convoy of ships, which often ambushed the prey. Try the Queen Anne’s Revenge.
THE sinking of the lusitania
One of the most famous maritime ambush tactics was performed at the Battle of Salamis:
http://www.livius.org/a/battlefields/salamis/salamis.html
Drake defeating the mighty Spanish Armada in 1588. He used several tactics to position himself against a mighty fleet including fleet formation, weapory, use of incindiaries, and prevailing weather to corner his opponent. Ironically, in the end most of the Spanish fleet wasn’t lost in battle but crashed on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland when trying to make their way back to Spain. I read recently that the lack of knowledge fo the gulf stream probably plaid a large part of this.
While I’m sure there are better examples of naval ambush, this certainly is a case which had a profound effect on the balance of power in Europe.