A Fleet Was Needed

Mastery of the seas implied two essential elements of Britain's ability to wage war against her rebellious subjects: the possibility to reinforce her garrisons in America and the capability to keep them supplied.

It is not surprising, therefore, that one of the first requests made of the French government by Benjamin Franklin soon after arriving in Versailles as U.S. Ambassador was the dispatch of a fleet that would enable the Americans to put an end to British hegemony over the seas and shores of the Thirteen Colonies.

The first fleet sent by the government of Louis XVI, in April of 1778, was made up of twelve ships of the line; it was under the command of Count d'Estaing. The presence of this French squadron in North American waters had little impact upon the course of the war, whether because of the Admiral's indecision, the lack of coordination with the American army or the undisputed supremacy of British seapower.

The first really significant aid offered by the French Court to the United States ws a 6,000 strong expeditionary corps, under the command of the brilliant strategist, the Count of Rochambeau, which arrived in America in May, 1780. Rochambeau quickly became one of the main military leaders in the struggle against the British.

At a meeting held in Hartford between Washington and Roehameau, a few weeks after the latter's arrival, the decision ws reached that, in order to win the war, it was absolutely necessary to ask Louis XVI tht

           "in addition to the many proofs of his generosity, His Most Christian Majesty would now assist the United States by sending more ships, more men and more money."

Colonel Laurens, a special envoy of the American Government, was sent to French to plead in person before the King.

In response to the Hartford document, the French Government offered to send a series of successive and considerable sums of money and, more importantly, pledged its Atlantic Fleet, under the command of Admiral de Grasse, to the cause of the american Revolution.

Taking advantage of the situation created for Britain by the Spanish siege of Gibralter, the French fleet made ready to slip out of Brest.

An incident-a rather common one in those days when budgets were at best imprecise afairs temporarily delayed the great scheme, as seamen demanded to be paid beforehand. An officer in the French fleet has has left this testimony:

                "We were ready to sail, but the sailors being unpaid were screaming like eagles, when Mr. de Castries, minister of the Navy, ex-general
officer of cavalry, arrived and found means to satisfy them, after knocking at a hundred doors, the treasury being exhausted."

Finally on March 22, 1781, the large fleet weighed anchor and set sail from Brest,bound for America. On April 28, de Grasse was already in the West Indies where he defeated an English fleet under Admirla Hood. The island of Tabago, an English colony, fell in French hands.

Upon learning the news of the arrival of the powerful French fleet in the West Indies, Washington sensed the end of the war approaching and said as much to the French minister, La Luzerne.

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