Saints, Battle of the

During the American Revolution, British naval victory over the French on 12 April 1782, off the islands of Les Saintes in the channel separating Dominica from Guadeloupe in the Windward Islands. The British achieved their short‐term aim of preventing a French convoy from sailing, but more importantly this battle also had the effect of reasserting British naval supremacy in the Western hemisphere.

A British fleet of 36 ships under Admiral George Rodney was in the area watching a French convoy and a fleet of 33 ships which was being assembled by Admiral François de Grasse to protect the convoy. As the convoy was being escorted to Guadeloupe, Rodney fell on the rearmost ships, forcing the French fleet to turn about and come to their rescue. The two fleets approached each other in parallel lines but the French formation was ragged and a gap opened. Rodney took his squadron through the gap, breaking the French line, and he captured or destroyed five French ships and took two others a few days later. French losses numbered some 3,000 casualties and 8,000 prisoners, while British losses were 261 killed and 837 wounded.