The last action of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Battle of Tory Island ended the final attempt by the French Navy to land substantial numbers of soldiers in Ireland during the war.

At the request of the rebels, a small French force under General Humbert was landed at Killala, County Mayo, but by early September both this expedition and the rebellion had been defeated.

After a long chase, the French were brought to battle in a bay off the rugged County Donegal coast in the west of Ulster, very close to Tory Island.

Having lost many of its best officers during the political purges of The Terror, these defeats bred a negative mentality in the French Navy, discouraging adventurous strategic thinking.

[9] Eventually, the Expédition d'Irlande was despatched in December 1796 under Admiral Morard de Galles, consisting of 17 ships of the line and 27 smaller vessels, and carrying as many as 25,000 men.

[10] Despite elements of the force spending up to a week in Bantry Bay, not a single French soldier was successfully landed,[11] and the expedition was a total disaster, with 13 ships lost and over 2,000 men drowned.

Duncan immediately attacked, and in the ensuing Battle of Camperdown captured or destroyed ten ships and scattered the rest, ending the Batavian invasion threat.

Humbert's force was joined by many United Irishmen and had some initial success, but was unable to face superior British numbers at the Battle of Ballinamuck, and surrendered on 8 September.

In command of the squadron on the Irish station was Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren, a highly experienced officer (and politician) who had made a name for himself raiding the French coast early in the war.

[20] Despite Bompart's attempts to disguise his destination, by the evening of 23 September Countess had correctly deduced the French were heading for Ireland, and despatched the brig Sylph to warn Commodore Warren and any other British ships she came across.

[19] He then tried to drive off pursuit by feinting towards Countess's squadron, but the faster British ships simply withdrew to a safe distance, resuming their chase once the French had returned to their original course.

He waited out the night close to Tory Island, but was surprised the next day by sails on the horizon; Warren's squadron had been joined by Countess's ships, and an overwhelming force was bearing down on the French.

Abandoning all notions of landing the troops, Bompart hauled his ships close to the wind to give them room to manoeuvre and allow their captains as much opportunity as possible to escape the approaching British.

[27] During the night, Bompart attempted to decoy the British by sending the schooner Biche with orders for the frigate Résolue, commanding Captain Jean-Pierre Bargeau to beach his ship and fire flares in the hope of distracting Warren from his pursuit.

[30] Minutes later Magnanime joined the action, firing on the rear frigates and engaging the French van of Immortalité, Loire and Bellone, which had worn out of the line in an attempt to rake her.

[27] The next three British ships into action, Ethalion, Melampus and Amelia, all raked the isolated Hoche as they passed, before pressing on sail to pursue the French frigates, now making distance to the south-west.

Captain Durham was initially confused by their approach as he had been too distant to witness the action and the French ships flew false British ensigns, but he rapidly realised their true identity and at 16:00 opened fire on Loire.

During the evening, the surviving French frigates gradually pulled away from their pursuers and disappeared into the gathering night, leaving behind four of their squadron, including their flagship, as captives.

[30] When a gale struck the pair on 13 October, Hoche lost several masts and broke her tow, only being prevented from foundering by the combined efforts of the British prize crew and their French prisoners.

[35] On the morning of 13 October, Warren sighted two of the French frigates standing out of Donegal Bay and went after them, directing Moore in Melampus to stay behind to search for stragglers.

[34] Hindered by contrary winds, Melampus scoured the bay until well after nightfall, and at 23:30 was surprised by the sudden appearance directly in front of her of Immortalité and Résolue near St. John's Point.

[36] Loire and Sémillante had escaped from the battle, heading south into Blacksod Bay on the coast of County Mayo, down in the West of Ireland, where they hoped to hide until they had a clear passage back to France.

However, late on 15 October, a British frigate squadron under James Newman-Newman rounded the southern headland of the bay, forcing the French ships to flee to the north.

[42] The four remaining survivors of the French fleet had mostly avoided pursuit, and by 19 October were nearing Brest in Brittany independently, hoping to slip through the tight British blockade around the harbour.

Captain Mathieu-Charles Bergevin on Romaine had attempted to land the troops aboard his ship in Ireland on 13 October, but was forced to abandon this plan when the soldiers refused to be put ashore.

[45] On 27 October, Savary learnt of the destruction of both Bompart's squadron and the Irish rebellion from sympathetic locals at Killala, and turned immediately south, hoping to avoid a similar fate.

[45] An abortive effort to support the French invasion fleet was also made by the Navy of the Batavian Republic, which despatched the small frigates Furie and Waakzaamheid to Ireland with military supplies on 24 October.

Within hours of leaving port, both these ships were intercepted and captured by the British frigate HMS Sirius under the young Captain Richard King at the action of 24 October 1798.

[49] Five decades later, the battle was among the actions recognised by the clasp, "12th October 1798", attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.

Richard Brooks discusses these discrepancies and concludes that Warren's squadron, although widely dispersed, was probably approaching from approximately the north-west, from the North Atlantic towards Ireland.