Robert Mann (Royal Navy officer)
| Robert Mann | |
|---|---|
Captain Robert Mann, 1779, by John Francis Rigaud
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| Born | c.1748 London |
| Died | 20 September 1813 |
| Allegiance |
 Great Britain United Kingdom
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| Service/branch |
 Royal Navy
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| Years of service | ? – 1813 |
| Rank | Admiral of the Red |
| Commands held |
HMS Zephyr HMS Alarm HMS Cerberus HMS Scipio HMS Bedford |
| Battles/wars | |
Robert Mann (c.1748 – 20 September 1813) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars, eventually rising to the rank of admiral of the red.
Mann was born into a naval family. His father, the elder Robert Mann, was a captain in the navy. He was mortally wounded while commanding HMS Milford during the capture of the French privateer Gloire on 7 March 1762, during the Seven Years' War. His son, the younger Robert Mann, was born c. 1748. He embarked on a naval career and was commissioned as lieutenant on 26 May 1768.
On 24 June 1776, during the American War of Independence, Mann received a promotion to commander and given his first command, the 10-gun {{HMS|Merlin|1756)|HMS Zephyr]]. Mann was promoted to post-captain on 30 May 1777 and appointed to command the 32-gun HMS Alarm in October that year, where he remained until April 1779.
Mann next assumed command of the 32-gun HMS Cerberus in July 1779. In 1780 Mann fell in with a Spanish fleet consisting of twelve sail of the line and several frigates under Don Joseph Solano. He followed the Spanish for several days, proceeding to give the earliest intelligence dispatches to Admiral Sir George Rodney, whom he found at anchor at Barbados. On 25 February 1781, whilst cruising twenty leagues off Cape Finisterre, he captured the Spanish 28-gun frigate Graña, under Don Nicolás de Medina.Graña was a month out of Ferrol but had not captured anything. In the action with Cerberus she lost her first lieutenant and six men killed, and seventeen wounded, out of her crew of 166 men. The Spanish officers fought as long as they could, but their men deserted them. Captain Mann in contrast was highly pleased with the behaviour of the officers and men of the Cerberus, only two of whom were wounded. From October 1782 until the end of the war, he commanded the 64-gun HMS Scipio.
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