# Sortie

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Brief excursion of one military unit from a strongpoint

For other uses, see [Sortie (disambiguation)](/source/Sortie_(disambiguation)).

"To sally" redirects here. For hawking, falconry, see [sally out](/source/Sally_out).

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A Venetian sortie during the [Siege of Candia](/source/Siege_of_Candia) (1668)

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A **sortie** (from the French word meaning [*exit*](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sortie), from [Latin](/source/Latin) root *surgere* meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an [aircraft](/source/Aircraft), [ship](/source/Ship), or troops, from a [strongpoint](/source/Strongpoint).[1] The term originated in [siege warfare](/source/Siege_warfare).

## In siege warfare

In [siege warfare](/source/Siege_warfare), the word *sortie* refers specifically to a sudden sending of troops against the enemy from a defensive position—that is, an attack launched against the besiegers by the defenders. If the sortie is through a [sally port](/source/Sally_port), the verb *to sally* may be used interchangeably with *to sortie*.

Purposes of sorties include harassment of enemy troops, destruction of siege weaponry and engineering works,[2] joining the relief force, etc.

Sir [John Thomas Jones](/source/John_Thomas_Jones), analyzing a number of sieges carried out during the [Peninsular War](/source/Peninsular_War) (1807–1814), wrote:[3]

The events of these sieges show that a bold and vigorous sortie in force might carry destruction through every part of a besieger's approaches, where the guard is injudiciously disposed and ill commanded; but that if due precautions have been observed in forming the approaches and posting the defenders, any sortie from a besieged place must be checked with loss in their advance, when the approaches are still distant; or when the approaches are near, should a sortie succeed in pushing into them by a sudden rush, the assailants must inevitably be driven out again in a moment, with terrible slaughter.

## In aviation

In [military aviation](/source/Military_aviation), a sortie is an aircraft flight or mission (training or combat),[4] starting when the aircraft takes off. For example, one mission involving six aircraft would tally six sorties. The **sortie rate** of a unit is the number of sorties that it can support in a given time.

## References

Look up ***[sortie](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sortie)*** in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-vocab_1-0)** ["sortie - Dictionary Definition"](https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/sortie). *Vocabulary.com*. Retrieved 6 May 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Petersen2013_2-0)** Leif Inge Ree Petersen (2013). [*Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400–800 AD): Byzantium, the West and Islam*](https://books.google.com/books?id=BRGaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA293). Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV. p. 293. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-90-04-25199-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-90-04-25199-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Jones1846_3-0)** [John Thomas Jones](/source/John_Thomas_Jones) (1846). H.D. Jones (ed.). [*Journals of Sieges Carried on by the Army Under the Duke of Wellington*](https://books.google.com/books?id=8xsoFEeuiMsC&pg=PA331). Vol. 2 (3rd ed.). London: John Weale. p. 331.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [*Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB), Powder River Training Complex: Environmental Impact Statement*](https://books.google.com/books?id=RvA3AQAAMAAJ). USAF. August 2010. p. (8) – 4. Retrieved 22 February 2021.

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