The Comte de Grasse won the Battle of the Chesapeake, helping trap Cornwallis at Yorktown.
François Joseph Paul de Grasse commanded the French fleet during the naval battle on September 5, 1781. The opposing British fleet was led by Rear Admiral Thomas Graves. The encounter took place off the Virginia Capes and prevented the British from controlling the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay.
That result was crucial because Cornwallis’s army was positioned at Yorktown, where it depended on the sea for supplies and possible evacuation. With the French fleet blocking the bay, Washington and Rochambeau could maintain the land siege without effective British naval relief.
The battle was not a complete destruction of the British fleet, but its strategic consequences were enormous. The French naval victory helped make the Yorktown campaign possible, and Cornwallis surrendered about six weeks later. De Grasse’s role is distinct from Rochambeau’s: de Grasse commanded ships, while Rochambeau commanded French land forces.