"France and Prussia clash off Cuba: The Battle of ..." Topic

…of Havana 1870

"Single-ship actions, in which a lone ship from one navy is matched against a lone ship of the enemy's, represent some of the most dramatic battles in naval history. The captains and crews cannot depend on support or rescue through the intervention of a larger force and the battle represents the moment in which training, skill and discipline all come together to determine victory or defeat. In other articles on this blog I've described some of the most dramatic of such actions – Quebec vs Surveillante (1779), Indefatigable vs. Droits de l'Homme (1797) and Shah vs. Huascar (1877) – and the Naval War of 1812 consisted largely of similar encounters. Each of these actions took place in the context of larger tactical or strategic objectives.

A more obscure action, fought off the coast of Cuba in 1870, was one which was radically different in that it could have had no bearing, however remote, on the outcome of a greater conflict. It was indeed triggered by almost medieval concepts of pride and honour.

In 1870 the French Second Empire under Napoleon III entered unwisely into war with Prussia, the pre-eminent power in Germany. Within weeks of the start of hostilities French land forces had been defeated in battle after battle. Napoleon III himself had been surrounded and forced to surrender with an entire army and Prussian forces, supported by other German allies, had invaded Northern France and had brought Paris itself under siege. France had a large navy, Prussia a few ships only, and those small, but the French found themselves incapable of using their powerful modern ironclads to gain any strategic advantage…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Odd that in view of the hundreds of 'single ship actions' the author chose to illustrate the point by citing Indefatigable v Droits de l'Homme and Shah v Huescar, neither of which were single ship actions: Indefatigable was in company with Amazon and Shah with Amathyst.

That said I'm currently reading Britannia's Wolf by Vanner and it is a ripping yarn – ironclads in the Russo-Turkish War, plenty of daring-do!

Nick