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The Royal Navy’s defeat at Chesapeake Bay had a major effect on world history. Although faced by a more powerful French fleet, Admiral Graves in charge of the British fleet was a mediocre officer who failed to seize the initiative and attack the French ships when they were still at anchor and an onshore wind and incoming tide. However he arranged his ships in the traditional line of battle formation and waited for De Grasse to form a line. At one stage during the battle, the van of the French fleet became detached from the rest of the ships but Graves maintained the line and engaged the enemy at an angle bringing only his van into action.A similar lacklustre performance by Byng off Minorca resulted in a death sentence yet the loss of Minorca had only a minor effect on history the loss of Yorktown possibly had a major effect

His second in command was Samuel Hood who was later to force through a gap in the French line at the Battle of Saints and help win a decisive victory.

What if Hood had been in charge at Chesapeake Bay and attacked the French fleet whilst it was still at anchor or if he had ignored the Line of Battle signal and forced the gap? Cornwallis would have been relieved.

Britain was by no means defeated militarily in the American War of Independence even after Yorktown however the effect of Yorktown was to bring about the downfall of Lord North’s government, with the result that the Rockingham Whigs were able to insist on talks to end hostilities and give the colonies independence as a condition of forming a government. Without a defeat at Chesapeake what would have happened next? Would a compromise be reached with the moderate patriots such as Benjamin Franklin with an amnesty for the founding fathers. Represenation at Westminster as in Sobel’s For Want of a Nail? Or would Lord North’s government have demanded unconditional surrender and have been bogged down in a long war of attrition?

Where would Benedict Arnold fit in all this? Distrusted by both sides or maybe joining forces with the moderate patriots and become a revered figure who saved the colony?
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