Genoa, Raid on

The Raid on Genoa is a minor naval engagement fought in the harbor 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 are scattered across the Mediterranean, several sheltering in neutral Italian harbors, including the frigates Modeste at Genoa and Impérieuse at Leghorn.

To eliminate the threat these isolated frigates posed, Hood orders a squadron under Rear-Admiral John Gell to investigate the harbor at Genoa.

The squadron arrives on October 5 and discovers Modeste and two smaller warships at anchor.

Later in the day, three ships of the squadron launch their ship's boats and instigate a boarding action against the anchored ships, in defiance of Genoese neutrality.

The French crews resist, but the British boarding parties successfully capture all three vessels without suffering any casualties.

Six days later the detached HMS Captain also seizes the abandoned Impérieuse, which had fled to La Spezia.

The action has strategic consequences: the Republican faction in Genoa is strong and they successfully bar Austrian reinforcements from sailing to join the Allied garrison at the developing Siege of Toulon.

The outnumbered defenders of the port are overwhelmed and driven into the sea by a Republican assault on December 17.

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