The action of 3 May 1920 was a short

single-ship action A single-ship action is a naval engagement fought between two warships of opposing sides, excluding submarine engagements; called so because there is a single ship on each side. The following is a list of notable single-ship actions. Single-shi ...

fought during the Russian Civil War between the French Navy and the Soviet Russia.

Background

During the Russian Civil War, the French Navy was engaged as part of the

Allied Intervention Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War or Allied Powers intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions which began in 1918. The Allies first had the goal of helping the Czechoslovak Legio ...

providing assistance to the White faction engaged on the Southern Front. The French Navy suffered a

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...

in 1919 but operations were carried until the end of the conflict.

Action

According to French sources, the French sloop (avisos) Le Scarpe imprudently advanced into the territorial waters of the red Russia near

Novorossiysk Novorossiysk ( rus, Новоросси́йск, p=nəvərɐˈsʲijsk; ady, ЦIэмэз, translit=Chəməz, p=t͡sʼɜmɜz) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities hono ...

during a routine patrol in the Black Sea. The Captain wanted to sail to Nikolaiev to collect information about procuring supplies.Peter Lang, ''Documents diplomatiques français. Volume 1;Volume 21,Parte 1;Volume 29,Parte 1'', 1997, p. 622-623 The French ship encountered the Soviet floating battery Krasnaya Zarya near Ochakov; during the subsequent fight she was damaged and surrendered. This happened near the end of the Russian Civil War, and the ship was soon returned.

References

External links

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502211938/http://www.soviet-empire.com/ussr/viewtopic.php?f=149&t=53513 , date=2018-05-02 Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War Battles of the Russian Civil War Naval battles involving Russia Naval battles involving France Naval battles of the Russian Civil War Battles involving Soviet Russia (1917–1922)