The Battle of Lissa was a naval action fought between a British frigate squadron and a substantially larger squadron of French and Venetian frigates and smaller ships on 13 March 1811 during the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. The engagement was fought in the Adriatic Sea for possession of the strategically important island of Lissa (later renamed Vis), from which the British squadron had been disrupting French shipping in the Adriatic. The French needed to control the Adriatic to supply a growing army in the Illyrian Provinces, and consequently despatched an invasion force in March 1811 consisting of six frigates, numerous smaller craft and a battalion of Italian soldiers. The French invasion force under Bernard Dubourdieu was met by Captain William Hoste and his four ships based on the island. In the subsequent battle Hoste sank the French flagship, captured two others and scattered the remainder of the Franco-Venetian squadron. The battle has been hailed as an important British victory, due to both the disparity between the forces and the signal raised by Hoste, a former subordinate of Horatio Nelson. Hoste had raised the message "Remember Nelson" as the French bore down and had then manoeuvred to drive Dubourdieu's flagship ashore and scatter his squadron in what has been described as "one of the most brilliant naval achievements of the war".
Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lissa_%281811%29
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1448:
Ottoman wars in Europe: The Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi engaged an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad II. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kosovo_%281448%29
1604:
Kepler's Star: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observed an exceptionally bright star which had suddenly appeared in the constellation Ophiuchus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1604
1860:
The Open Championship, the oldest of the four major championships in men's golf, was first played at Prestwick Golf Club in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Championship
1961:
In Paris, the French police under the Prefect of Police Maurice Papon attacked a peaceful but illegal demonstration of some 30,000 who were protesting the Algerian War, killing anywhere between 40 and 200 people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_massacre_of_1961
1964:
Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies opened the artificial Lake Burley Griffin in the middle of the capital Canberra. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Burley_Griffin
1989:
A 6.9 Mw earthquake struck California's San Francisco Bay Area, killing 63 people, injuring 3,757, leaving at least 8,000 homeless, and forcing the postponement of Game 3 of Major League Baseball's World Series. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Loma_Prieta_earthquake
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
tranquil (adj): 1. Free from emotional or mental disturbance. 2. Calm; without motion or sound http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tranquil
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted. --Arthur Miller http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller
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