The Battle of Groix was a large naval engagement which took place off the island of Groix on the Biscay coast of Brittany on 23 June 1795 (5 messidor an III) during the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle was fought between elements of the British Channel Fleet and the French Atlantic Fleet, which were both cruising in the region on separate missions. The British fleet, commanded by Admiral Lord Bridport was covering an invasion convoy carrying a French Royalist army to invade Quiberon, while the French under Vice-Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse had sailed a week earlier to rescue a French convoy from attack by a British squadron. The French fleet had driven off the British squadron in a battle on 17 June known as Cornwallis's Retreat, and were attempting to return to their base at Brest whe