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Crisis at the Chesapeake

The Royal Navy and the Struggle for America 1775-1783

Series : From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 #63

Author : Quintin Barry

Crisis at the Chesapeake : The Royal Navy and the Struggle for America 1775-1783

Digital Editions

eBook (epub)  2.98MB

£12.49 Available for immediate download

eBook (pdf)  3.2MB

£12.49 Available for immediate download

Details

General - Pages : 264 | Images : 18 b/w illustrations, 6 b/w maps

Paperback - Date of Publication : 15th May 2021 | Size : 234mm x 156mm | ISBN : 9781913336530 | Helion Book Code : HEL1279

eBook - ISBN : 9781804511497

By the end of 1780 the war for American independence appeared to be approaching a stalemate. After five years of war, Washington’s armies remained in the field. Once France, and then Spain, joined the war, Lord Sandwich as First Lord of the Admiralty was faced with a constant struggle to balance the forces needed at home and overseas, while facing constant hostile pressure from the opposition. However, events were conspiring to bring about a showdown in North America, which would take place in the waters off Chesapeake Bay.

This book describes how, step by step, the crisis was reached. After France had accepted the need for a major effort to support the Americans, the Comte de Grasse arrived in the West Indies in April 1781 with a large fleet, intending to arrive off the North American coast in July. Once he had opted to sail to Virginia, Washington began to move south. Meanwhile Lord Cornwallis, the British commander in the Carolinas, had chosen without authority to march to Virginia, where he arrived in May to link up with a force that had been sent to establish a naval base in the Chesapeake. De Grasse reached Chesapeake Bay with his whole fleet at the end of August, outnumbering the British fleet under Graves which arrived on 5 September. The battle that followed was indecisive, though the French had the best of it. Cornwallis was now besieged at Yorktown by Washington; a force intended to relieve him arrived too late and on 19 October he capitulated at Yorktown. The war for American independence was decisively lost; all that remained was a bitter debate as to who was to blame.

 

"The story of the American War of Independence has oft been told but rather less has been said of the maritime portion of that story and less still has been told from the perspective of the Royal Navy. It is to this end that Quintin Barry offers Crisis at the Chesapeake. In a well-reasoned and highly readable monograph, Barry surveys that war's broader naval context and the competing challenges faced by Admiralty and flag officers alike as they sought to restore imperial control on the rebellious American colonies. In a work finely illustrated, soundly argued, and sympathetically told Quintin Barry recounts these events from a British perspective. It is a perspective all will benefit from reading and this work is warmly recommended." Naval Historical Foundation

"The book covers this significant naval and ground battle in some detail, but also covers British naval policy and strategy throughout the American Revolution." The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society

"Copiously illustrated as it is with maps and contemporary images, Quintin Barry's work on this strategically influential action will find a worthy place on the bookshelves of anyone with an interest in the naval history of the eighteenth century." Nautical Research Journal 67:3, Autumn 2022

"This book is typical of his work. It is brief, succinct yet comprehensive. It offers an excellent overview of the naval aspects of the American War of Independence, the build-up to it, its conclusion and its aftermath. It describes the leading American, French and British participants and the parts they took very usefully. It is hard to believe how much information the author has packed into only 260 well-illustrated pages." Baird Maritime

"...a valuable study of a widespread campaign, along with a narrative of the Royal Navy’s previous maneuvers and actions starting in 1775." Journal of the American Revolution

"Quintin Barry has placed the movements of armies and roles of navies into a sequence that explains their relationships to each other, rather than as merely disjoined rockets bursting in air that culminate in the surrender at Yorktown and the end of the war." The Northern Mariner

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