Battle of Saints

Battle of the Saintes
Part of the American Revolutionary War
The Battle of the Saintes, 12 April 1782: surrender of the Ville de Paris by Thomas Whitcombe, painted 1783, shows Hood's HMS Barfleur, centre, attacking the French flagship Ville de Paris, right.
Date 9 April 1782 – 12 April 1782 Location Off Dominica, West Indies Result Decisive British victory
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	33 ships of the line
Casualties and losses
243 dead, 816 wounded	4 ships of the line captured, 1 destroyed 3,000 dead or wounded, 5,000 captured

The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), or Battle of Dominica was an important naval battle that took place over four days, 9 April 1782 – 12 April 1782, during the American Revolutionary War, and was a victory of a British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney over a French fleet under the Comte de Grasse, forcing the French and Spanish to abandon a planned invasion of Jamaica.

The battle is named after the Saintes (or Saints), a group of islands between Guadeloupe and Dominica in the West Indies. The French fleet defeated here by the Royal Navy was the fleet that had blockaded the British Army during the Siege of Yorktown. The French suffered heavy casualties and many were taken prisoner, including the Comte 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.

In October 1781, a plan had been worked out between Admiral Comte de Grasse, commander of the French fleet in the West Indies, and Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis, General Bureau for the Spanish Indies, court representative and aide to the Spanish Governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Gálvez. The strategic objectives of the Franco-Spanish military forces in the West Indies in this plan were:

This plan became known as the "De Grasse – Saavedra Convention", and the first objective was essentially met with the surrender of the British army under General Cornwallis at the Siege of Yorktown in September 1781. De Grasse and his fleet played a decisive part in that victory, after which they sailed to the Caribbean. On arrival in Saint Domingue in November 1781, he was notified that the plan was given the go ahead to proceed with the conquest of Jamaica.

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