British Frigate vs French Frigate 1793-1814, Mark Lardas/Peter Dennis

[carojon]

The first post of 2021 starts with a book review of this rather nice Osprey Duel title that I got for Xmas concerning Anglo-French frigate actions of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars together with a concise history of the development of these warships.



Not a new title from Osprey, being first published in 2013, but if you were thinking of picking it up, I have to say I enjoyed the read and if you are interested in seeing my thoughts about the book then just follow the link to JJ's

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2021/01/british-frigate-vs-french-frigate-1793.html

JJ

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Excellent and comprehensive review, although I was surprised at how few frigate encounters the French won, having previously assumed this was where they achieved most of their successes against The Andrew in the Napoleonic era.

[carojon]

Thank you and yes the figures on French victories make stark reading, but perhaps unsurprising considering the upheaval caused to the French navy by the Revolution and the loss of many competent officers; with an attempt by the French authorities to replicate the success of the army on land by placing reliance on the revolutionary enthusiasm and zeal of inexperienced crews and commanders up against very experienced and competent British crews fighting to protect hearth and home from invasion.

This difference in approach is reflected in one of the successful French actions when the Baionnaise of just 28 guns, and realising they were losing the gunnery and sailing part of the battle, smashed their bowsprit over the poop of the 32 gun Ambuscade and used their larger crew with a large contingent of soldiers aboard to overwhelm the British ship in a boarding action, with Ambuscade weak in numbers having detached a prize crew on a previous capture.