Action of 4 September 1782
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| Action of 4 September 1782 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
 Hébé (right) as HMS Hebe in 1795 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Great Britain | France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Henry Trollope | Chevalier de Vigny | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1 frigate | 1 frigate | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
1 killed 2 wounded |
5 killed 7 wounded 360 captured 1 frigate captured[2] | ||||||
The action of 4 September 1782 was a single-ship action fought off the Île de Batz between the French Navy frigate Hébé and Royal Navy frigate HMS Rainbow. It was the first military engagement to see the proper use of British carronade design, which proved so effective that Hébé promptly struck her colours right after the first broadside from Rainbow.[3]
On 4 September the 44-gun frigate HMS Rainbow under Captain Henry Trollope, armed entirely with carronades, was off the French coast near the Île de Batz when a frigate was sighted. Having then chased the vessel, it turned out to be a French frigate, Hébé. The 1,063-ton Hébé was a new ship of the class of the same name whose armament consisted of 38 guns, 26 of which were 18-pounder long guns. It was commanded by the Chevalier de Vigny (uncle of Alfred de Vigny) and had on board 360 men. Hébé had left Saint-Malo on 3 September and was heading to Brest escorting a small convoy.[4] At 7:00 am, having arrived within gunshot of the French ship, the Rainbow commenced firing 32-pounder chase guns from the forecastle, which were returned by the frigate. One 32-pound ball shot away Hébé's wheel and killed her second captain.
Vigny examined the fragments of the hollow carronade shot and concluded that if she was firing 32-pounders as chase pieces, she was actually a ship of the line in disguise. He fired one broadside, "pour l'honneur du pavillon" (the honour of the flag), and struck his colours.[2] The surrender of Hébé after slight resistance was not surprising when taking into consideration the advantage provided by the unusual armament of the Rainbow.[5][6] Rainbow lost only one man killed and two slightly wounded. The French lost five killed, including the second captain, Yves-Gabriel Calloët de Lanidy, and several wounded out of a crew of 360 men.[2]