Battle of the Chesapeake

The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as Battle of the Virginia Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American Revolutionary War which took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on September 5 1781 between a British fleet led by Rear Admiral Thomas Graves and a French fleet led by Rear Admiral Comte de Grasse. It was the only major defeat for the Royal Navy in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The victory by the French fleet prevented the Royal Navy from resupplying the forces of General Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. It also prevented interference with the supply of troops and provisions from New York to the armies of George Washington through Chesapeake Bay. As a result, Cornwallis surrendered after the siege of Yorktown and Great Britain later recognized the independence of the United States of America.

Origins

After a strategically indecisive campaign in the southern states, British troops under Lord Cornwallis headed north in the summer of 1781 in order to rejoin Sir Henry Clinton's army in New York City, which was under threat of attack from American and French forces led by George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau. Rather than taking an overland route, Cornwallis led his troops to the coast at Yorktown, Virginia to await naval transport to New York. The presence of the British troops at Yorktown made control of the Chesapeake Bay an essential naval objective.

Cornwallis was expecting to be met by ships of the British West Indian fleet, which in any case would be heading north to escape hurricane season in the Caribbean. At the same time, the French fleet in the Caribbean had been urgently petitioned to come north by Washington, who realized the strategic importance of the Chesapeake.

The British fleet under Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood arrived off the entrance to the Chesapeake on August 25, but finding no French ships there and perhaps underestimating the urgency of the situation, Hood proceeded to take his entire fleet of 14 ships of the line to New York to join with Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves's fleet. However, upon arriving in New York, he found that Graves had only 5 additional ships of the line that were fit for battle.

Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Comte de Grasse had arrived at the Chesapeake on August 29 with a French fleet that included 27 ships of the line and also carried three regiments of regular troops under General Marquis de Saint-Simon. Thus, the British had already made two fatal mistakes: they had failed to track the movements of the French fleet, and they had badly underestimated its strength and sent an inadequate force to deal with the threat.

Battle

When the British fleet of 19 ships, now under Graves's command, arrived back at the Chesapeake on the morning of September 5, they found 24 French ships at anchor behind Cape Henry. The remaining 3 ships of de Grasse's fleet had been detached to blockade the York and James Rivers farther up the bay, and many of the ships at anchor were missing officers, men, and boats who were busy landing the French troops.

With the wind and tide in their favor as well as the element of surprise in finding the French ships at anchor in a state of unpreparedness for battle, the British might have been able to inflict severe losses by sailing into the bay and striking quickly in a general attack. However, it is unlikely that such an idea ever occurred to Graves. Conventional naval tactics of the time called for the fleets to each form up in line of battle and then maneuver within gun shot range of each other, each ship attacking its opposite in the enemy line.

Forming up the British line took so much time that the French were able to cut their anchors, sail out of Chesapeake Bay, and form their own line of battle. It was after 4 p.m., over 6 hours since the two fleets had first sighted each other, by the time the British - who still had the weather gage, and therefore the initiative - were ready to open their attack.

At this point, both fleets were sailing generally east, away from the bay. The two lines were approaching at an angle so that the leading ships of the vans of both lines were within range of each other, but the ships behind them were still attempting to close the gap. A shift in wind direction during the battle made it even harder for the ships in the rear to engage. Thus the ships in the van on both sides were engaged in heavy and continuous firing from the beginning of the action, while several of the ships in the rear never got into action at all. There was also confusion in the British fleet's maneuvers caused by apparently contradictory signals issued by Graves during the battle.

Around 6:30 p.m., at dusk, firing ended. Graves gave a general signal to keep to windward so that the heads of the two fleets separated. By this time, the British ships in the van division that had borne the brunt of the battle were very badly damaged and unable to continue to fight effectively in any case. Many of the British ships had been leaking badly and were in need of refitting even before the battle, and the French gunnery had been particularly destructive of the ships' rigging and masts.

Aftermath

The actual battle ended at sunset on September 5, but for several days afterwards the two fleets continued to maneuver within sight of each other, as ships on both sides carried out repairs and waited for an opportunity to resume the fight. In the meantime, both fleets were sailing farther and farther away from Chesapeake Bay, their strategic objective. Finally, on the evening of September 9, de Grasse recognized the futility of continuing the stalemate, and the French fleet turned around. When they arrived back at Cape Henry the following day, they found that in their absence, Comte de Barras had arrived from Newport, Rhode Island with 7 more ships of the line. Thus Chesapeake Bay was indisputably under French control.

Although the actual naval battle was inconclusive, the Battle of the Chesapeake was a major strategic victory for the French because of its consequences for the land campaign. Cornwallis was cut off from rescue or resupply, while the French were reinforced by the troops brought by de Grasse, and Washington's army converged from the north. This led to the siege of Yorktown, the surrender of Cornwallis's army, and the ultimate defeat of the British forces in America.

Memorial

At the Cape Henry Memorial located at Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Virginia, there is monument maintained by the Colonial National Historical Park of the National Park Service which commemorates Admiral de Grasse and his sailors who helped the United States achieve its independence from Great Britain.

Ships involved:

France (de Grasse)

Pluton 74 (d'Albert de Rions)
Bourgogne 74
Marseillais 74
Diadème 74
Réfléchi 74
Auguste 80 (de Bougainville)
Saint-Esprit 80
Caton 74
César 74
Destin 74
Ville de Paris 100 (flag)
Victoire 74
Sceptre 80
Northumberland 74
Palmier 74
Solitaire 64
Citoyen 74
Scipion 74
Magnanime 74
Hercule 74
Languedoc 80
Zélé 74
Hector 74
Souverain 74

Britain (Graves)

London 98 (flag)
Princess 70 (Van flag, Drake)
Barfleur 98 (Rear flag, Samuel Hood)
Terrible - Damaged, later scuttled
others

External links

1781 | Battles of the American Revolutionary War

Battles in Virginia | Naval battles | Virginia Beach, Virginia

Bataille de la baie de Chesapeake