Battle of the Saintes
1782 CE.
Shown on the map at 15.783°, -61.600°.
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 from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Saintes, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.