The Battle of Lissa (sometimes called the Battle of Vis; French: Bataille de Lissa; Italian: Battaglia di Lissa; Croatian: Viška bitka) is a naval action fought between a British frigate squadron and a larger squadron of French and Italian frigates and smaller ships on March 13.1811 during the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars.
The engagement is fought in the Adriatic Sea for possession of the strategically important island of Lissa (also known as Vis), from which the British squadron had been disrupting French shipping in the Adriatic./
The French need to control the Adriatic to supply a growing army in the Illyrian Provinces, and consequently dispatch 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 is met by Captain William Hoste and his four ships based on the island.
In the subsequent battle, Hoste sinks the French flagship, captures two others, and scatters 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 maneuvered to drive Dubourdieu's flagship ashore and scatter his squadron.
