Battle of Chandannagar

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13/3/1, SH 1, Authpur, Shyamnagar, Kolkata, West Bengal 743125, India

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N22° 51' 21.24" E88° 22' 48"   (22.8559, 88.38) Start navigation »

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In 1757 war broke out between France and Great Britain, and Colonel Robert Clive of the British East India Company and Admiral Charles Watson of the Royal Navy bombarded and captured Chandannagar on 23 March 1757. The town's fortifications and many houses were demolished thereafter, and Chandannagar's importance as a commercial centre was eclipsed by that of Calcutta just downriver. Chandannagar was restored to the French in 1763, but retaken by the British in 1794 in the Napoleonic Wars. The city was returned to France in 1816, along with a 3 sq mi (7.8 km2) enclave of surrounding territory. It was governed as part of French India until 1950, under the political control of the governor-general in Pondicherry.
Clive, "determined to eliminate" Siraj ud-Daulah, chose the capture of the French Fort d'Orleans, and Chandannagar, as a first step. The French had a total of 16 guns against the Watson's HMS Kent (1746), HMS Tiger (1747), and HMS Salisbury (1746), and Clive's land forces. Though "the guns of the fort did a great deal of damage", including 37 killed and 74 wounded on the Tiger, the attack was successful.

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