1778: Vice Admiral Keppel with thirty ships of the Channel Fleet, fought the Comte d'Orvilliers, with thirty French ships, at the Battle of Ushant. The action was indecisive, and first Keppel, then Rear Admiral Palliser, who had commanded the rear division of the fleet, subsequently faced courts martial. Both were acquitted but resigned their commissions. A pro-Keppel mob ripped the gates off Admiralty House.

1809: Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Wellesley fought off successive attacks by French forces under Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain, and Marshals Victor and Jourdan on the first day of the battle of Talavera.

1940: Sporadic Luftwaffe attacks continued, mainly over the Channel.

1943: The second of a series of four attacks by RAF Bomber Command on Hamburg - Operation Gomorrah - was launched with 787 aircraft. The weather was particularly warm that night, with low humidity. These factors, combined with a prolonged absence of rain and a particularly concentrated bombing attack came together in a completely unexpected and devastating manner: a firestorm in the Hammerbrook district, violently drawing in oxygen to feed itself, reaching temperatures estimated in excess of 1,000 degrees Celsius. It only subsided after three hours, when every item of potential fuel in the area had been consumed. Some 40,000 deaths are believed to have been caused in the city that night. 1.2 million people fled the city. Seventeen RAF aircraft were lost.