page_title: Richard Byron (Royal Navy officer)
section_title: Action off Groix
hierarchical_section_title: Richard Byron (Royal Navy officer) / Action off Groix
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the Close of the Action Between the British and French Fleets, off Port L'Orient on the 23rd of June 1795; aquatint by Robert Dodd, from the original by Captain Alexander Becher, RN; published by the engraver 12 June 1812 Русский: Вид при завершении дела между британским и французским флотами у порта Лориан 23 июня 1795; акватинта; Роберт Додд, с оригинала капитана Александра Бекера; опубликовано гравером 12 июня 1812
context_page_description: Rear-Admiral Richard Byron CB was an officer in the British Royal Navy. He served in the American Revolutionary War where he saw action at the Battle of the Saintes, the French Revolutionary Wars where he fought at the Glorious First of June and the Battle of Groix, and the Napoleonic Wars where he served in North-American waters. Byron was in command of HMS Belvidera when she was attacked by a squadron of heavy frigates in one of the first actions of the 1812 Anglo-American War.
context_section_description: Having received word that Villaret had left Brest, the Channel Fleet of 14 battleships, by then under Alexander Hood, set off in pursuit. On 22 June, the British fleet was at 47°4′N 4°16′W, when at 03:30 the 12 ships-of-the-line of the French Atlantic Fleet were spotted. Hood sent his fastest ships, the Sans-Pareil, Orion, Colossus, Irresistible, Valiant, and Russel, ahead. Although both fleets were affected by periods of calm, by 19:00 the leading British ships were in a position to open fire. The chase continued through the night and at 03:00 the following morning the wind began to pick up. By dawn, Queen Charlotte, which had forged ahead through superior sailing, was alongside Irresistible with the rest of the British fleet spread out behind. The French fleet by contrast had remained together, except three or four ships astern, the closest of which was some three miles ahead.
  By 06:00 the British were beginning to overhaul the French and there was some sporadic firing. At around 06:15, the Queen Charlotte engaged Formidable which after receiving a broadside from the passing Sans Pareil, soon struck. The Queen Charlotte's sails and rigging had become so badly damaged that by 07:14, she was beginning to drift out of the action. She continued to fight however, firing into what ships she could and forcing the surrender of the Alexandre before leaving the battle completely. 
  Only eight British ships, the rest being too far astern, fought with all but four ships of the French Fleet, managing to capture three before Hood called off the action. The British had 31 men killed and 113 wounded. Byron's ship, Queen Charlotte, had four of her crew killed and 32 wounded. Total French losses cannot be determined but aboard the three captured ships, there were 670 killed and wounded.
caption: An engraving of the action on 23 June by Robert Dodd, from the original by Captain Alexander Becher, RN.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A530", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2009:11:08 23:36:50", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5108", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3349", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:11:08 23:36:50", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:11:08 23:36:50", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "189/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "85/16", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "7889/1000", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1944", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "2592", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1944", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2824", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "11520", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "81000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Portrait"}