Battle of Cuddalore (1783)

Battle of Cuddalore
	; The Battle of Cuddalore, Auguste Jugelet
Date	20 June 1783
Location	Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean11°45′N 79°45′E / 11.75°N 79.75°E
Result	French victory
Belligerents
France	Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Pierre Suffren	Edward Hughes
Strength
15 ships of the line	18 ships of the line
Casualties and losses
478 killed and wounded	533 killed and wounded

The Battle of Cuddalore in 1783 was a naval battle between a British fleet, under Admiral Sir Edward Hughes with Admiral L.J. Weiland, and a smaller French fleet, under the Bailli de Suffren, off the coast of India that took place right before the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolutionary War. This war sparked the Second Mysore War in India. In the battle, taking place near Cuddalore on 20 June 1783, Suffren commanded the engagement from the frigate Cléopâtre and won what is generally considered a victory.^[3] Peace had already been agreed upon in Europe, but that news had yet to reach India, making this the final battle of the war.

On the death of French ally Hyder Ali, the British decided to retake Cuddalore. They marched troops from Madras, and began preparing for a siege. The French fleet, under Suffren, appeared at Cuddalore on 13 June. A week of fickle winds prevented either side from engaging until 20 June, when Suffren attacked. No ships were seriously damaged, but each side lost about 100 men with around 400 wounded. The British fleet retreated to Madras after the action, preventing the landing of transports carrying additional troops en route to Cuddalore to reinforce the siege. A sortie from the town weakened the British forces, and word of peace officially arrived at Cuddalore on 29 June.

Background

Following the December 1782 death of French ally Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore and previous controller of Cuddalore, British commanders at Madras decided to attempt the recapture of Cuddalore. The army marched south from Madras, circling around the city then encamping south of it. The British fleet, eighteen ships of the line under Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, anchored to the south of Cuddalore in order to protect the army and its supply ships. By early June 1783, the Siege of Cuddalore was under way.

French Admiral Suffren was ordered on 10 June to sail with his smaller fleet of fifteen ships from Trincomalee to support the besieged city. When he arrived, Hughes, who sought to avoid battle, moved away from the city and again anchored. After five days of adverse winds, Suffren was able to anchor near the city, where he made contact with the city's commander, Sayed Sahib of Mysore. Since it appeared that the success of the siege would be decided by naval action, 1,200 troops were embarked onto Suffren's ships to increase his gunnery complement. His fleet weighed anchor on 18 June, and the two fleets began maneuvering for advantage.

Battle

Both fleets were at first frustrated by light and variable winds. When a consistent west wind developed on 20 June, Hughes lined-up for battle on a northward-trending port tack and awaited Suffren's action. Lining-up in a similar formation, Suffren gave to the order to attack, and battle was engaged shortly after four in the afternoon. The action lasted about three hours resulting in no major damage to ships in either fleet, despite all ships being engaged.

Aftermath

Suffren's fleet anchored about 25 nautical miles north of Cuddalore after the battle, while Hughes anchored near the city. On 22 June, Hughes sighted the French fleet while he was en route to Madras; a number of his ships had been disabled, and he reported that many men were suffering from scurvy and that he was short of water.

Suffren returned to Cuddalore on 23 June, forcing the British supply fleet to withdraw. In addition to returning the 1,200 troops he had borrowed from the city's garrison, he landed an additional 2,400 men to support the defense. A sortie from the city was repelled but weakened the besieging British, and on 29 June a British ship flying under a truce flag brought news of a preliminary peace agreement between the two nations, resulting in a mutually-agreed suspension of hostilities on 2 July.

Order of battle

French van squadron ^[4]
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Casualties			Notes
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Killed	Wounded	Total	Notes
Sphinx	64-gun	64		Captain du Chilleau
Brillant	64-gun	64		Lieutenant de Kersauson
Fendant	74-gun	74		Captain Thomassin de Peynier (Captain of the fleet) Captain Armand de Saint-Félix (Flag captain) (WIA) ^[5]
Flamand	54-gun	54		Lieutenant Perier de Salvert †
Ajax	64-gun	64		Captain Dupas de la Mancelière † ^[6]
Fine	frigate	32
Casualties:

French centre squadron ^[4]
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Casualties			Notes
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Killed	Wounded	Total	Notes
Petit Annibal	50-gun	50		Captain Jean André de Pas de Beaulieu
Argonaute	74-gun	74		Captain de Clavières
Héros	74-gun	74		Major de Moissac
Illustre	74-gun	74		Captain Bruyères de Chalabre
Saint Michel	60-gun	60		Captain de Beaumont-Lemaître
Cléopâtre	frigate	32		Captain Suffren
Casualties:

French rear squadron ^[4]
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Casualties			Notes
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Killed	Wounded	Total	Notes
Vengeur	64-gun	64		Captain de Cuverville
Sévère	64-gun	64		Lieutenant de Maurville de Langle
Annibal	74-gun	74		Captain d'Aymar
Hardi	64-gun	64		Captain Cramezel de Kerhué
Artésien	64-gun	64		Captain de Vignes d'Arrac
Consolante	frigate	40		Lieutenant de Costebelle
Coventry	frigate	28
Casualties:

British van squadron
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Casualties^[7]			Notes
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Killed	Wounded	Total	Notes
HMS Defence	Third rate	74		Captain Thomas Newnham	7	38	45
HMS Isis	Fourth rate	50		Captain Christopher Halliday	3	30	33
HMS Gibraltar	Third rate	80		Commodore Sir Richard Bickerton Captain Thomas Hicks	6	40	46
HMS Inflexible	Third rate	64		Captain John Whitmore Chetwynd	3	30	33
HMS Exeter	Third rate	64		Captain John Smith	4	9	13
HMS Active	Fifth rate	32
Casualties:

British centre squadron
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Casualties^[7]			Notes
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Killed	Wounded	Total	Notes
HMS Worcester	Third rate	64		Captain Charles Hughes	8	32	40
HMS Africa	Third rate	64		Captain Robert McDougall	5	25	30
HMS Sultan	Third rate	74		Captain Andrew Mitchell	4	20	24
HMS Superb	Third rate	74		Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes Captain Henry Newcome	12	41	53
HMS Monarca	Third rate	68		Captain John Gell	6	14	20
HMS Burford	Third rate	64		Captain Peter Rainier	10	20	30
HMS Sceptre	Third rate	64		Captain Samuel Graves	17	47	64
HMS Medea	Sixth rate	28		Captain Erasmus Gower
Casualties:

British rear squadron
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Casualties^[7]			Notes
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Killed	Wounded	Total	Notes
HMS Magnanime	Third rate	64		Captain Thomas Mackenzie	1	16	17
HMS Eagle	Third rate	64		Captain William Clark	4	8	12
HMS Hero	Third rate	74		Commodore Richard King Captain Theophilus Jones	5	21	26
HMS Bristol	Fourth rate	50		Captain James Burney	0	10	10
HMS Monmouth	Third rate	64		Captain James Alms	2	19	21
HMS Cumberland	Third rate	74		Captain William Allen	2	11	13
Casualties:

British lighter ships^[8]
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Casualties			Notes
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Killed	Wounded	Total	Notes
San Carlos	armed storeship	22		George Murray, William White
Harriott	armed storeship	22		Thomas Stephenson
HMS Chaser	sloop	18		Edward Buller
HMS Juno	Fifth rate	32		Captain James Montagu
HMS Medea	Fifth rate	28		Captain Erasmus Gower
HMS Seahorse	Fifth rate	24		John Drew
Pondicherry	troop ship	18		Thomas Saunders Grove
Casualties:

Citations

^ Paine p.75
^ Lacour-Gayet (1910), p. 546.
^ Palmer p.161
^ ^a ^b ^c Cunat (1852), p. 301-302.
^ Levot (1866), p. 468—469.
^ Roche (2005), p. 28.
^ ^a ^b ^c The Scots magazine. Edinburgh: Alex Chapman. December 1783. p. 688.
^ "2nd Battle of Cuddalore". threedecks. Retrieved 22 April 2020.