Battle of the Saintes

From 9 to 12 April 1782 off the Îles des Saintes in the Antilles, Admiral Rodney crushed De Grasse's French fleet. On 12 April Rodney broke the French line by piercing its center ('breakthrough maneuver') and captured or destroyed seven ships. De Grasse was taken prisoner; France lost control of the Antilles.

In the American War of Independence, De Grasse had convoyed reinforcements to the Antilles after Yorktown. Rodney, with 36 ships, intercepted the 33-ship French fleet between Dominica and the Saintes. Both admirals sought decisive battle that would control the Caribbean.

On 12 April, at about twenty past nine, the wind turned south-east. The French ships, carried to starboard, drifted towards the British line: the formation opened. Rodney, aboard the Formidable, drove into a gap between two French vessels, Hood following close behind. The manoeuvre — breaking the enemy line instead of running alongside it — was rare at the time, and it placed the British guns at point-blank range on the unprotected flanks of isolated ships, which were taken or sunk one by one. The Ville de Paris, De Grasse's flagship, held out for more than five hours; legend has it that, out of ammunition, she fired a last broadside loaded with the ship's silver. Reduced to a dismasted, blood-soaked hulk, she struck her colours.

The French left some 2,000 dead or wounded and 5,000 prisoners, and five ships were captured, among them the Glorieux, the Hector and the Ardent; the British counted only 243 dead and 816 wounded. France lost naval supremacy in the West Indies and gave up any threat to Jamaica. For London the victory partly offset Yorktown and weighed in the negotiations leading to the Peace of Versailles. De Grasse would remain a prisoner for three years. The breaking of the line, for its part, entered naval doctrine and inspired tacticians well into the nineteenth century.