Java campaign of 1806–1807

The Java campaign of 1806–1807 was a military campaign of the Napoleonic Wars in which the Royal Navy destroyed a squadron of the navy of the Kingdom of Holland based on Java. In 1806, Rear-admiral Sir Edward Pellew determined that the Dutch squadron, consisting of three ships of the line and several smaller warships under Vice-admiral Pieter Hartsinck, posed a potential threat to British merchant shipping passing through the Strait of Malacca. As Pellew lacked the strength to invade Java outright, he instead established a blockade of the Dutch East Indies' capital of Batavia and made preparations to engage in targeted naval strikes to isolate and destroy Hartsinck's squadron.

Although he was delayed by inadequate resources and the Vellore Mutiny, Pellew sent the frigate HMS Greyhound to the Java Sea in July 1806. There, she destroyed a Dutch convoy near Celebes on 26 July. Nearly three months later, another British frigate, HMS Caroline, captured a Dutch frigate and brig on 18 October off Batavia. Building on this momentum, Pellew brought his main force to the region and on 27 November raided Batavia, destroying the last frigate and several smaller warships of Hartsinck's squadron. As the three ships of the line had escaped to Griessie prior to the raid, Pellew returned in October 1807. His forces raided Griessie in early December, during which all three ships of the line were scuttled.

The destruction of Hartsinck's squadron led to the collapse of Dutch naval power in the region and secured Britain's command of the sea across the western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean, ensuring safe passage for British merchant shipping. With the Dutch no longer a threat to British mercantile interests in the East Indies, Britain's attention turned to the two remaining French colonies in the Indian Ocean, Isle de France and Isle Bonaparte. In the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811, both colonies were occupied by British forces, ending the threat from European rivals to Britain's interests in the region.