The Battle of Saint Kitts, also known as the Battle of Frigate Bay, was a naval battle that took place on 25 and 26 January 1782 during the American Revolutionary War between a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood and a larger French fleet under the Comte de Grasse.
Background[]
When Hood returned to the West Indies in late 1781 after the Battle of the Chesapeake, he was for a time in independent command owing to Rodney's absence in England. The French Admiral, the Comte de Grasse, attacked the British islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis Hood hoping to salvage the situation made for St Kitts with reinforcements however he soon learned that he was facing a much superior force. De Grasse had landed 6,000 men on St Kitts and laid siege to the fortress on Brimstone Hill.
Action[]
The British fleet on the 24th January consisting of twenty-two sail of the line, was close off the south-east end of Nevis. It soon ran into and captured the French 16-gun cutter Espion carrying a large amount of ammunition for the use of the besieging French forces at Brimstone Hill. At daybreak on the 25th, the French fleet was discovered standing to the southward of Basseterre, comprising one ship of 110 guns, twenty-eight two-decked ships, and two frigates. Hood stood towards the French fleet, with the apparent intention of bringing on action, which had the effect of drawing the French fleet off the land. This was achieved but no sooner had Hood effected this he was aided by a favourable change in the wind, and took his fleet within the anchorage of Basseterre or Frigate Bay, which the French admiral had quitted. Hood ordered his fleet in an L formation and once this had been achieved he then ordered his fleet to lay anchor. Comte de Grasse, in frustration made three distinct and vigorous attacks upon the British fleet on the 26th but was successively repulsed with great damage to his ships.[2]
Aftermath[]
Losses on both sides were light but the French fleet had suffered considerable damage. Hood managed to stay in the position for another two weeks without further incident. Despite outmanoeuvring De Grasse, Hood was unable to save the island from surrendering to the French, due in part to the French siege of Brimstone Hill, a fortress on the island. This happened on 12 February and Hood left on the 14th. Hood then joined forces with the recently arrived Admiral George Rodney.
Order of Battle[]
Britain[]
| Admiral Sir Samuel Hood's fleet | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship | Rate | Guns | Commander | Casualties | Notes | |||
| Killed | Wounded | Total | ||||||
| Van | ||||||||
| HMS St Albans | Third rate | 64 | Captain Charles Inglis | 0
|
0
|
0
|
||
| HMS Alcide | Third rate | 74 | Captain Charles Thompson | 2
|
4
|
6
|
||
| HMS Intrepid | Third rate | 64 | Captain Anthony James Pye Molloy | 2
|
0
|
2
|
||
| HMS Torbay | Third rate | 74 | Captain Lewis Gedoin | 0
|
0
|
0
|
||
| HMS Princessa | Third rate | 70 | Rear-Admiral Francis Samuel Drake Captain Charles Knatchbull |
2
|
4
|
6
|
Flagship of van | |
| HMS Prince George | Second rate | 98 | Captain James Williams | 1
|
3
|
4
|
||
| HMS Ajax | Third rate | 74 | Captain Nicholas Charrington | 1
|
12
|
13
|
||
| Centre | ||||||||
| HMS Prince William | Third rate | 64 | Captain George Wilkinson | 0
|
3
|
3
|
||
| HMS Shrewsbury | Third rate | 74 | Captain John Knight | 3
|
7
|
10
|
||
| HMS Invincible | Third rate | 74 | Captain Charles Saxton | 0
|
2
|
2
|
||
| HMS Barfleur | Second rate | 98 | Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood Captain Alexander Hood |
9
|
24
|
33
|
Flagship of centre | |
| HMS Monarch | Third rate | 74 | Captain Francis Reynolds | 2
|
2
|
4
|
||
| HMS Belliqueux | Third rate | 64 | Captain Lord Cranstoun | 5
|
7
|
12
|
||
| HMS Centaur | Third rate | 74 | Captain John Nicholson Inglefield | 0
|
12
|
12
|
||
| HMS Alfred | Third rate | 74 | Captain William Bayne | 2
|
20
|
2
|
||
| Rear | ||||||||
| HMS Russell | Third rate | 74 | Captain Henry Edwyn Stanhope | 8
|
29
|
37
|
||
| HMS Resolution | Third rate | 74 | Captain Lord Robert Manners | 5
|
11
|
16
|
||
| HMS Bedford | Third rate | 74 | Commodore Edmund Affleck Captain Thomas Graves |
2
|
15
|
17
|
||
| HMS Canada | Third rate | 74 | Captain William Cornwallis | 1
|
12
|
13
|
||
| HMS Prudent | Third rate | 64 | Captain Andrew Barclay | 18
|
36
|
54
|
||
| HMS Montagu | Third rate | 74 | Captain George Bowen | 7
|
23
|
30
|
||
| HMS America | Third rate | 64 | Captain Samuel Thompson | 1
|
17
|
18
|
||
| Attached frigates | ||||||||
| Van | ||||||||
| HMS Eurydice | Sixth rate | 20 | Captain George Wilson | 0
|
0
|
0
|
||
| Centre | ||||||||
| HMS Pegasus | Sixth rate | 28 | Captain John Stanhope | 0
|
0
|
0
|
||
| HMS Fortunee | Sixth rate | 28 | Captain Hugh Cloberry Christian | 0
|
0
|
0
|
||
| HMS Lizard | Sixth rate | 28 | Captain Edmund Dod | 0
|
0
|
0
|
||
| HMS Champion | Sixth rate | 20 | Captain Thomas Wells | 1
|
1
|
2
|
To repeat signals | |
| HMS Convert | Fifth rate | 32 | Captain Henry Harvey | 0
|
0
|
0
|
||
| HMS Triton | Sixth rate | 28 | Captain John M’Lawrin | 0
|
0
|
0
|
||
| Rear | ||||||||
| HMS Sibyl | Sixth rate | 28 | Captain John Norton | 0
|
0
|
0
|
||
| HMS Solebay | Sixth rate | 28 | Captain Charles Everitt | 0
|
0
|
0
|
||
| Total recorded casualties: 72 killed, 244 wounded | ||||||||
| Source: Isaac Schomberg's Naval Chronology, pp. 396–7, The London Gazette, 9 March 1782.[4] | ||||||||
France[]
| Admiral the Comte de Grasse's fleet | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship | Guns | Commander | Fate | |||||
| Ville de Paris | 104 | François Joseph Paul de Grasse M. La Velleon |
||||||
| Auguste | 80 | Louis Antoine de Bougainville | ||||||
| Duc de Bourgogne | 80 | M. Espinouse | ||||||
| Couronne | 80 | Claude Mithon de Genouilly | ||||||
| Languedoc | 80 | M. d'Arros | ||||||
| Magnanime | 74 | Comte l'Basque | ||||||
| Northumberland | 74 | M de St. Cezaire | ||||||
| Pluton | 74 | M. d'Albert de Rions | ||||||
| Glorieux | 74 | Comte d'Escars | ||||||
| César | 74 | M. de Marigny | ||||||
| Hercule | 74 | M. la Clochetterie | ||||||
| Zélé | 74 | Chev. Gras Preville | ||||||
| Palmier | 74 | M. de Mortilly | ||||||
| Hector | 74 | M. le Vicomte | ||||||
| Souverain | 74 | M. de la Glendevis | ||||||
| Conquérant | 74 | M. de la Grandiere | ||||||
| Sceptre | 74 | Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil | ||||||
| Citoyen | 74 | Comte d'Ethy | ||||||
| Destin | 74 | M. de Goimpy | ||||||
| Neptune | 74 | M. Destouches | ||||||
| Bourgogne | 74 | M. Champmartin | ||||||
| Dauphin Royal | 70 | M. Montpereux | ||||||
| Marseillais | 74 | Henri-César de Castellane Majastre[5] | ||||||
| Diadème | 74 | |||||||
| Éveillé | 64 | Comte Tilly | ||||||
| Réfléchi | 64 | Chev. de Boades | ||||||
| Jason | 64 | Chev. de Villages | ||||||
| Ardent | 64 | M. Groullon | ||||||
| Caton | 64 | Comte Fremont | ||||||
| Source: Isaac Schomberg's Naval Chronology, p. 398 | ||||||||
Notes[]
- ↑ Jaques, Hood arrived and repulsed de Grasse with victory at sea off Basseterre p. 881
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Allen p. 325
- ↑ Marly p. 342
- ↑ "No. 12277". 1782-03-09. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/12277/page/
- ↑ Batailles navales de la France, Onésime-Joachim Troude, Challamel ainé, 1867, vol.2, p. 215
References[]
- Allen, Joseph (1852). Battles of the British Navy. London: Henry Bohn. pp. 325. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PVE2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA350&dq=Hood#PPA350,M1.
- Clowes, William Laird. The royal navy: a history from the earliest time to the present, Volume 3
- Jaques, Tony Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E Greenwood 2006 ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5
- Marley, F. David. Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present ABC-CLIO (1998). ISBN 087436837
- Schomberg, Isaac (1802). Naval Chronology:or, An Historical Summary of Naval & Maritime Events, From the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace, 1802. 4. London: T. Egerton by C. Roworth.
See also[]
Coordinates: 17°09′N 62°35′W / 17.15°N 62.583°W
The original article can be found at Battle of Saint Kitts and the edit history here.