semicircular inlet of the Mediterranean Sea, lying between Abū Qīr Point (southwest) and the mouth of the Rosetta Branch (northeast) of the Nile River delta, in Lower Egypt. The bay was the scene of the Battle of the Nile (1798), in which an English fleet under Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson defeated the French fleet, thus cutting off communications with France and eventually contributing to the early departure of French troops from Egypt. A natural-gas field, developed offshore in the late 1970s, provides energy for industries around Alexandria.