Battle of Negapatam (1782) - Battle

Battle

Suffren was in the process of forming his battle line around 3 pm when a squall took down the main and mizzen top masts of Ajax, forcing her to drop out of his line. When the squall calmed down the breeze was to Hughes' advantage so he sailed out of the harbour. The two fleets spent the night anchored two cannonshots apart.

The next morning Suffren was infuriated to learn that repairs had not been made to Ajax, and that her captain wanted to retreat for repairs. Given that battle was imminent, Suffren refused. He then ordered his line to bear down on the British line for close action. As they began to move, Ajax stood away and did not join the action. At 9:30 on 6 July, the fleets closed and opened fire on each other, first at long range. Flamand engaged Hero and Exeter, Annibal engaged Isis, Sévère faced Barford, and Brilliant opposed Sultan while the two flagships, Héros and Superb, did battle with each other. The remainder of the British line was not able to directly line up against the French, resulting in an angle in their line where Sphinx and Monarca battled that minimized the action between the ships at the end of the line. Flamand took significant damage, but was able to return the favor to its opponents. Brillant began to suffer under the fire of Sultan, but Suffren managed to detach Héros to come to her rescue.

The battle proceeded with vigour until about 1 pm, when the wind suddenly changed, throwing both lines into confusion. With occasional meetings between two ships, Hughes attempted to reform his line around 2, but neither fleet was in a state to adopt battle positions easily, so Suffren decided to draw away toward Cuddalore. One British observer noted that "our fleet was utterly incapable or preventing or pursuing them".