Battle of Minorca

20 May 1756, Off Port Mahon, Minorca

Indecisive; Byng withdrew and Minorca fell

In April 1756 a French army landed on Minorca, the British base in the western Mediterranean, and besieged the garrison in St Philip's Castle at Port Mahon. Admiral John Byng was sent out with a squadron of ill-manned ships, and on 20 May met the Marquis de La Galissonière's squadron, which was covering the siege. Byng's approach went wrong: his line came down at an angle, the van under Rear-Admiral West came into action alone and was badly cut up, Intrepid lost her foretopmast and threw the ships behind her into confusion, and Byng, keeping strictly to the Fighting Instructions, held his flagship back to keep the line. The French drew off. After a council of war Byng went back to Gibraltar, leaving the garrison to surrender in June. He was court-martialled for failing to do his utmost and shot on the quarterdeck of Monarch at Portsmouth on 14 March 1757, 'to encourage the others', as Voltaire wrote.

Map

• Byng sails to relieve Minorca May 1756

• Byng returns to Gibraltar May – June 1756