Description

The raid on Dunkirk was an attack by a British Royal Navy force on the well-defended French anchorage of Dunkirk in the English Channel on 7 July 1800 during the War of the Second Coalition. French Navy forces had been blockaded in their harbours during the conflict, and often the only method of attacking them was through fireships or "cutting-out" expeditions, in which boats would carry boarding parties into the harbour at night, seize ships at anchor and bring them out. The attack on Dunkirk was a combination of both of these types of operation, aimed at a powerful French frigate squadron at anchor in Dunkirk harbour. The assault made use of a variety of experimental weaponry, some of which was tested in combat for the first time with mixed success.