Battle of the Nile Battle of the Nile The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; ) was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the Nile Delta of Egypt from 1 to 3 August 1798. The battle was the climax of a naval campaign that had raged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under General Napoleon Bonaparte. The British fleet was led in the
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson absent, Napoleon's fleet arrived on 1 July and landed their forces unopposed. Brueys then anchored his fleet in Aboukir Bay, ready to support Napoleon if required. Nelson meanwhile had crossed the Mediterranean again in a fruitless attempt to locate the French and had returned to Naples to re-provision. He sailed again, intending to search the seas off Cyprus, but decided to pass Alexandria again for a final check. In doing so his force captured a French merchant ship, which provided the first news of the French fleet: they had passed south-east of Crete a month before, heading to Alexandria. Nelson