Battle of the Saintes
1782 naval battle between British and French navies
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. Four French ships of the line were captured (including de Grasse's flagship) and another was destroyed, while the British lost no ships and suffered just over 1,000 casualties. Rodney was credited with pioneering the tactic of "breaking the line" in the battle, though this is disputed. Following the battle, Rodney and his fleet were rewarded for their victory, although the admiral was criticized for not winning a more complete victory.
The public source identifies “Battle of the Saintes” as 1782 naval battle between British and French navies. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Battle, Saintes and naval.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1850800. The Library of Congress control number is sh2006008534. Authority coordinates are 15.783, -61.600. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1782.
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This entry incorporates text from “Battle of the Saintes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.