Lutwidge was appointed to command the 28-gun sixth rate in August 1775, and sailed to North America in March the following year. He played an active role in the American War of Independence, serving in the Saint Lawrence River between 1777 and 1778. On 10 April 1777 he was made commodore and commander-in-chief of the British naval forces on Lake Champlain by Guy Carleton. He led the naval forces pursuing the Americans who were retreating from the fall of Fort Ticonderoga in July that year. Lutwidge was replaced in his role on 4 October 1777 by Captain Samuel Graves.