Qualla: Battle of the Chesapeake https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-chesapeake en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/d/6/battle-of-the-chesapeake-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of the Chesapeake https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-chesapeake Battle of the Chesapeake: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-chesapeake/ Photo credit Imagewikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. King George III did not yet know that Cornwallis had surrendered when he wrote the words: "After the knowledge of the defeat of our fleet, I nearly think the empire ruined." He was reacting to news of a naval battle fought on September 5, 1781, near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay -- a two-hour exchange of broadsides between nineteen British ships of the line and twenty-four French vessels that had barely managed to cut their anchor lines and scramble out of the bay in time to fight. The Battle of the Chesapeake was not the bloodiest engagement of the war, nor the longest. But it was the one that mattered. By denying the Royal Navy access to the bay, the French fleet sealed Lord Cornwallis inside his fortifications at Yorktown and handed George Washington the siege he needed to end the war.

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Image: Imagewikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/d/6/battle-of-the-chesapeake-wp/dqd6-battle-of-the-chesapeake-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of the Chesapeake: A Private Note to de Grasse https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-chesapeake/ Photo credit William Oliver Stevens and Allan Westcott, Public domain. The chain of decisions that led to the battle began on May 21, 1781, at the Vernon House in Newport, Rhode Island. Generals Washington and Rochambeau met to discuss their options: attack the principal British base at New York City, or move against the British army concentrating i...

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Image: William Oliver Stevens and Allan Westcott | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/d/6/battle-of-the-chesapeake-wp/dqd6-battle-of-the-chesapeake-a-private-note-to-de-grasse.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of the Chesapeake: Conflicting Signals https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-chesapeake/ Photo credit Graves, William, Public domain. British Rear Admiral Thomas Graves sailed south from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, with nineteen ships of the line, arriving at the Chesapeake early on September 5. He found de Grasse's fleet already at anchor. The French cut their cables and sailed out on the noon tide -- twenty-four ...

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Image: Graves, William | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/d/6/battle-of-the-chesapeake-wp/dqd6-battle-of-the-chesapeake-conflicting-signals.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of the Chesapeake: Two Hours of Broadsides https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-chesapeake/ Photo credit Larry Pieniazek, CC BY 2.5. The guns opened at about four in the afternoon, more than six hours after the fleets first sighted each other. The British van, led by Admiral Francis Samuel Drake, suffered the heaviest damage. The angle of approach exposed his ships to raking fire while only their bow guns coul...

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Image: Larry Pieniazek | CC BY 2.5

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/d/6/battle-of-the-chesapeake-wp/dqd6-battle-of-the-chesapeake-two-hours-of-broadsides.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of the Chesapeake: The Trap Closes on Yorktown https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-chesapeake/ Photo credit National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Public domain. For several days after the battle, the two fleets sailed within sight of each other without re-engaging. De Grasse was playing a deliberate game: luring the British away from the bay while Admiral de Barras, carrying vital siege equipment, sailed in from Newport. On September 9, ...

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Image: National Museum of the U.S. Navy | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/d/6/battle-of-the-chesapeake-wp/dqd6-battle-of-the-chesapeake-the-trap-closes-on-yorktown.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of the Chesapeake: A Hurricane's Hidden Hand https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-chesapeake/ Photo credit Humberto Moreno, CC BY 2.0. According to historian Eric Jay Dolin, a catastrophe the previous year may have tilted the odds before a single gun was fired at the Chesapeake. The Great Hurricane of 1780 -- perhaps the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record -- killed an estimated 22,000 people across the Lesse...

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Image: Humberto Moreno | CC BY 2.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/d/6/battle-of-the-chesapeake-wp/dqd6-battle-of-the-chesapeake-a-hurricanes-hidden-hand.mp3 0:06 6 full