Order of battle at the Battle of the Nile Order of battle at the Battle of the Nile The Battle of the Nile was a significant naval action fought during 1–3 August 1798. The battle took place in Aboukir Bay, near the mouth of the River Nile on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt and pitted a British fleet of the Royal Navy against a fleet of the French Navy. The battle was the climax of a three-month campaign in the Mediterranean during which a huge French convoy under General Napoleon Bonaparte had sailed from Toulon to Alexandria via Malta. Despite close pursuit by a British fleet of thirteen ships
HMS Canopus (1798) service. "Franklin" was built to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané at the Toulon shipyard between November 1794 and March 1798, having been launched on 25 June 1797. She was named after the American scientist and politician Benjamin Franklin. Commanded by Captain Maurice Gillet and flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Armand Blanquet du Chayla, "Franklin" was one of the ships that accompanied Vice Admiral François-Paul Brueys's fleet, carrying Napoleon Bonaparte and the French troops to invade Egypt."Franklin" was anchored with Brueys's fleet in Aboukir Bay on 1 August, when they were discovered in the evening by a British fleet under Rear-Admiral