The Saintes 1782

 The final battle of the minicampaign is the Saintes, both fleets are sailing on opposite course from each other, the british have the edge in number and weight of ships, with no less than four three deckers. Admiral de Grasse has just ben issued with a fresh first rate, le Bretagne, to replace the captured Ville de Paris in a previous game.

 Both sides begin within gun range

 The french have some extra punch in their van

 De Grasse aboard Bretagne

  The british van under admiral Drake aboard HMS Barfleur

 Admiral Rodney leds the british fleet from HMS Formidable, with the 90 gun HMS Namur ahead

 The french start by extending their line

 And opening a deadly fire

 A french group has detached from the main force, and is pounced upon by the brits in the van

 Formidable crosses the T of the enemy line

 The jack tars try to cut the enmy line trough a gap in the center

 Formidable pounds the enemy with her triple batteries

 Getting into close quarters, the british fleet attempts a risky move

 In the british van the ships become embroiled in a fast paced engagement

 Formidable and Namur move down the enmy line sanwitching the ships there

 The heading french man o' war is the first to strike

 Then the one astern

 Another ship of the line surrenders to point blank barrages

 As does another one, under the fire of three opponents

 The Barfleur rakes a poor 74, reducing her to matchwood

 Not everything goes the britons way, a mauled ship burns out, the fire reaches the powder store while the crew jumps for dear life into the water

 Another brit has had enough

 And yet another

 In the last turn, another french strikes beset by three enemies

 The battle ends after roughly half an hour of real time combat

 The outcome: six french lost for four english, quite a balanced result 24-16, and the closest game in quite a while to grace the pages of this blog

The final episode of the engagement is down to the burning british ship, blowing to kindom come

The press is quick to capitalize on any victory no matter how small. After such a string of defeats the british colonies in the caribbean are more than safe, remaining crown posessions despite the defeats further up north in the revolutionary war.