Global InformationBattle of the Saintes information
| Battle of the Saintes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Revolutionary War[1] | |||||||
 The French flagship Ville de Paris in action against HMS Barfleur by Thomas Whitcombe | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Great Britain |
 France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Sir George Rodney Sir Samuel Hood |
 Comte de Grasse  Louis de Bougainville | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 36 ships of the line | 30 ships of the line[4] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
243 dead, 816 wounded[5] |
4 ships of the line captured, 1 destroyed 3,000 dead or wounded,[6] 5,000 captured[5] | ||||||
The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The British victory was considered their greatest over the French during the American Revolutionary War.[7][8]
The British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeated a French fleet under the Comte de Grasse, forcing the French and Spanish to abandon a planned invasion of Jamaica.[9]
The battle is named after the Îles des Saintes, a group of small islands between Guadeloupe and Dominica in the West Indies. The French had blockaded the British Army at Chesapeake Bay the year before, during the Siege of Yorktown, and supported the eventual American victory in their revolution. This battle, however, halted their momentum and had a significant effect on peace negotiations to end the war.[1]
The French suffered heavy casualties at the Saintes and many were taken prisoner, including de Grasse. Four French ships of the line were captured (including the flagship) and one was destroyed. Rodney was credited with pioneering the tactic of "breaking the line" in the battle, though this is disputed.[9][10]
- ^ a b Allison & Ferreiro 2018, p. 220: This reversal had a significant effect on peace negotiations to end the American revolution which were already underway and would lead to an agreement by the end of the year.
- ^ Black 1999, p. 141.
- ^ Greene 2005, p. xvii: But the British Navy emerged from the siege of Yorktown intact, allowing Admiral Sir George Bridges Rodney to score a decisive victory over de Grasse in the Battle of the Saintes.
- ^ Tucker 2011, p. 257.
- ^ a b Valin 2009, p. 58.
- ^ Gardiner 1996, pp. 123–27.
- ^ Tucker 2018, p. 1323.
- ^ Jaques 2007, p. 885.
- ^ a b O'Shaughnessy 2013, p. 314.
- ^ Valin 2009, pp. 67–68.