Battle of the Saintes 1782
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 9 April 1782 – 12 April 1782 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1782 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: North America) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Revolutionary War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of France, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 15.7833, -61.6000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was fought between the British and French navies on 9–12 April 1782 off Dominica during the American Revolutionary War. A British fleet under Admiral of the White Sir George Rodney defeated a French fleet under Lieutenant général des armées navales François Joseph Paul de Grasse, forcing France and Spain to abandon a planned invasion of Britain's colony of Jamaica.
The battle is named after the Îles des Saintes, a group of small islands between Guadeloupe and Dominica in the West Indies. The French navy had blockaded a British army under Lord Cornwallis in Virginia the year before during the siege of Yorktown, and supported the eventual American victory in the war. Rodney's victory, however, halted their momentum and had a significant effect on peace negotiations to end the war. The battle is considered by a number of historians to be Britain's most significant victory over the French during the conflict.
De Grasse's fleet suffered up to 15,000 casualties at the battle, one of whom was de Grasse himself, who was taken prisoner.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Saintes (revision 1379972671), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Invasion of Guadeloupe (1759) 1759 · 28 km
- Siege of Guadeloupe 1703 · 52 km
- Action of 22 January 1809 1809 · 52 km
- Battle of Guadeloupe (1779) 1779 · 54 km
- Battle of Guadalupe Island (1595) 1595 · 59 km
- Battle of Martinique (1780) 1780 · 89 km
Other battles of the American Revolutionary War
- Siege of Fort Motte 1781
- Siege of Fort Watson 1781
- Siege of Ninety Six 1781
- Siege of Pensacola 1781
- Siege of Yorktown 1781
- Action of 12 December 1782 1782
- Action of 16 March 1782 1782
- Action of 6 December 1782 1782
- Battle of Cape Spartel 1782
- Battle of Delaware Bay 1782
All 190 battles of the American Revolutionary War →
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