French Naval Power and American Independence (1775–1783)

Introduction: Maritime Power and the Colonial War

Virtually any war involving European powers is bound to assign some measure of significance to the control and deployment of naval forces. During the American Revolution, several European nations possessed dominant naval fleets that largely determined the outcome of many conflicts, both directly and indirectly. Indirectly, sea power manifests itself in a nation's ability to supply and reinforce its troops — particularly when battles are fought on foreign soil, which was precisely Britain's situation during the Revolutionary War against the fledgling colonists. Arguments can even be made that many of the causes leading to the Colonial War stemmed from conflicts related to maritime affairs. The Boston Tea Party, for instance, saw colonists successfully block British ships from docking in cities such as New York and Philadelphia. The subsequent Coercive Acts — also known as the Intolerable Acts — were a direct result of that confrontation and included the closing of Boston's port until British revenue lost from the dumping of tea in the harbor was repaid. This proved to be the final insult that prompted the thirteen colonies to organize their military efforts. Those efforts, however, would likely have led to a British victory had it not been for the intervention of the French Navy, whose prowess at sea stands as one of the strongest contributing factors in the colonists' ultimate victory.

British Naval Supremacy at the Outset

It should be noted that during the Revolutionary War the British Navy was one of the most elite such forces in the world, as its victory against France in the French and Indian War — which preceded the Colonial War by a mere fifteen years — clearly demonstrated (Dull, 1985, p. 13). The British had strengthened their naval forces through the Navigation Acts, most of which were passed during the 1650s and which contributed to the expansion of both merchant and military fleets. These improvements allowed the British to largely expel the French from the continental United States, in no small part through the navy's successful blockading of the French fleet under William Pitt. This demonstration of British naval power becomes even more striking when compared to that of the colonists, who were nowhere near as experienced or accomplished at sea and who lacked the sheer number of ships that the British Navy possessed, leaving them severely disadvantaged on the water.

The French Entry and the Turning Point at Saratoga

As any historian is well aware, the turning point in the Revolutionary War occurred at the Battle of Saratoga, where the American victory finally convinced France — and its naval fleet — to join the colonists' struggle against Britain (Dull, 1975, p. 47). The French military's efforts, and their maritime accomplishments in particular, were an integral component of the colonists' victory. The most compelling evidence for this assertion is visible at the war's conclusion, when French aid proved most critical to the colonial cause.

French naval forces were instrumental in the success of the American revolutionaries at the Battle of Chesapeake Bay, which directly preceded the final, decisive engagement at Yorktown. In that engagement, the French Navy sailed from its outpost in the West Indies under the leadership of the comte de Grasse to reach Chesapeake Bay, where it provided a critical blockade of British forces led by General Cornwallis. It was the confirmed presence of de Grasse's fleet that galvanized American soldiers to march into Virginia for the Battle of Yorktown. When the British fleet contested de Grasse's forces for control of Chesapeake Bay, the French were able to repel them and successfully maintain the blockade of Cornwallis.

French Sea Power on Land and Water

The power the French exercised at sea during the Revolutionary War manifested itself on land as well as on water. Once France committed to the struggle against Britain alongside the American forces, it was able to provide munitions, supplies, and much-needed troops (Chartrand, 1991, p. 26). The forces that triumphed at Yorktown, Virginia, were comprised of both colonial and French troops, the latter of whom were transported under the authority of France's General Rochambeau. Because the French were able to successfully navigate waterways nominally controlled by the British, they landed these soldiers and sufficient supplies to allow Rochambeau's forces to merge with George Washington's in White Plains, New York, before making the long march to Virginia. There, the combined armies defeated the British in the Siege of Yorktown. As a direct result of French contributions at sea, Cornwallis surrendered to Washington on October 19, 1781, bringing the Revolutionary War to an end.

Conclusion: France's Decisive Contribution

Despite its early losses, the French fleet gained the final victory largely because of its prowess on the waterways and the assistance it was able to supply the colonists as a result. The great irony of this triumph is that fifteen years prior, France and its fleet had been soundly defeated by the same British forces during the French and Indian War. Yet it was the combination of French forces with those of the fledgling Americans that ultimately proved victorious during the Revolutionary War.

By providing the colonists with a potent strike force at sea, France bolstered American efforts on land and steadily eroded British resolve. The very fact that France joined the war compelled Britain to fight on multiple fronts, further weakening its ability to emerge victorious. Finally, the decisive triumph for American and French forces came in no small part from the French Navy's performance at the Battle of Chesapeake Bay, which set the conditions for Britain's surrender at Yorktown. France's power at sea contributed decisively to the achievement of American independence.

References

Brecher, F. W. (2003). Securing American Independence: John Jay and the French Alliance. Westport: Praeger Publishers.

Chartrand, R., & Francis, R. (1991). The French Army in the American War of Independence. Long Island City: Osprey.

Corwin, E. S. (1962). French Policy and the American Alliance of 1778. North Haven: Archon Books.

Dull, J. R. (1985). A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Dull, J. R. (1975). The French Navy and American Independence: A Study of Arms and Diplomacy 1774–1787. Princeton: Princeton University Press.