Battle of Lagos
On 18–19 August 1759 British Admiral Edward Boscawen intercepted a French Mediterranean squadron off Lagos, Portugal, destroying or capturing five ships of the line including the flagship. The French fleet had been ordered to break out of Toulon and rendezvous with the Atlantic squadron in preparation for a planned invasion of Britain — an ambition that the Battle of Lagos definitively ended before it could begin. The victory was one of three decisive British naval successes in the 'Year of Victories' (1759), alongside the Battle of Minden on land and the Battle of Quiberon Bay that would follow in November. William Pitt the Elder had consciously built British naval strategy around blockading French ports and intercepting any attempt at concentration: Lagos was a textbook execution of that strategy. For France, Lagos was the first of two blows that destroyed any prospect of naval parity with Britain for the remainder of the war. Without a credible Atlantic fleet, France could not reinforce its Caribbean colonies, could not sustain New France, and could not threaten the British Isles. The naval defeats of 1759 made the colonial losses of the following years inevitable.
- Year: 1759 CE
- Category: Military
