Battle of the Chesapeake

On 5 September 1781, a French fleet commanded by François Joseph Paul de Grasse fought a British fleet outside Chesapeake Bay. The engagement prevented the British from reaching or evacuating Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown.

The French retained control of the bay while Washington and Rochambeau completed the concentration of American and French troops in Virginia. Without naval relief, Cornwallis was trapped and surrendered after the ensuing siege.

The Battle of the Chesapeake offers fleet manoeuvre, uncertain communication, damaged ships and the strategic consequences of temporary command of the sea. Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Hurricane’s Eye argues that this French victory was indispensable to Yorktown.