Raid on Genoa
1793 CE.
Shown on the map at 44.409°, 8.926°.
The raid on Genoa was a minor naval engagement fought in the harbour of the Italian city of Genoa during the first year of the French Revolutionary Wars. French Republican forces in the Mediterranean, under pressure from Austrian and Spanish armies, Royalist uprisings and British blockade had suffered the loss of their principal naval base and the fleet stationed there when British forces under Lord Hood seized Toulon at the invitation of the city's Royalist faction. The survivors of the French fleet were scattered across the Mediterranean, several sheltering in neutral Italian harbours, including the frigates Modeste at Genoa and Impérieuse at Leghorn. To eliminate the threat these isolated frigates posed, Hood ordered a squadron under Rear-Admiral John Gell to investigate the harbour at Genoa. The squadron arrived on 5 October and discovered Modeste and two smaller warships at anchor. Later in the day, three ships of the squadron launched their ship's boats and instigated a boarding action against the anchored ships, in defiance of Genoese neutrality.
Text from the Wikipedia article Raid on Genoa, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.