The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2019 | Page 121

and Spanish Navies on the American Revolution
7
tablish their dominance in the area.
The commander the British
elected to send to the West Indies was
Admiral Rodney, now a hero after the
Gibraltar expedition. Rodney demonstrated
the same aggressive tactics
against the French in the Caribbean as
he did against the Spanish and achieved
notable results. Rodney prevented the
French from taking Barbados in 1781,
and in 1782 he destroyed the French
fleet at the Battle of the Saintes (April
12, 1782). 58
In the latter engagement, Rodney
utilized the same tactic, attacking from
the leeward position, as he did against
the Spanish fleet en route to Gibraltar.
The move once again proved successful
and granted victory to Rodney. The
British fleet destroyed the French fleet
off Santo Domingo, where the French
were waiting to join the Spanish fleet
for a combined assault against the British
base at Jamaica. 59 The French suffered
over three thousand casualties 60
and lost eight ships, and the French
Admiral de Grasse became a prisoner
of the British. 61 The British regained the
advantage in the West Indies, and once
again dealt a decisive blow to French
naval power, but this victory came too
late to save the British army at Yorktown,
which suffered defeat and surrender
in October 1781.
The naval victories over Spain
and France strengthened Britain’s military
position and political power in
Europe. 62 The victory also deprived the
Americans of the French navy from
joint operations in the American colonies:
following the British surrender at