Comte de Grasse commanded the French fleet that blockaded Yorktown during the American Revolution.
François Joseph Paul de Grasse arrived in the Chesapeake Bay in late August 1781 with a French fleet from the West Indies. His ships prevented the British from supplying or evacuating Charles Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown. The naval blockade was essential because it closed the water route that Cornwallis expected to use.
On September 5, 1781, de Grasse’s fleet fought the British fleet commanded by Thomas Graves at the Battle of the Chesapeake. The French victory kept British naval forces from breaking the blockade. De Grasse then supported the allied siege by landing troops and bringing heavy artillery supplies.
De Grasse should not be confused with Rochambeau, who commanded French land forces alongside Washington, or Lafayette, who led American troops in Virginia. The combined naval and land operation forced Cornwallis to surrender on October 19, 1781.