Battle of Negapatam ( 1782 ) The Battle of Negapatam was the third in the series of battles fought between a British fleet under Vice - Admiral Sir Edward Hughes and a French fleet under the Bailli de Suffren off the coast of India during the American Revolutionary War . The battle was fought on 6 July 1782 . Background . France had entered the American Revolutionary War in 1778 , and Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in late 1780 after the Dutch refused to stop trading in military supplies with the French and the Americans . The British had rapidly gained control over most French and Dutch outposts in India when news of these events reached India , spawning the Second Anglo - Mysore War in the process . The French admiral the Bailli de Suffren was dispatched on a mission to provide military assistance to French colonies in India . He arrived in February 1782 , and immediately engaged the British fleet of Vice - Admiral Sir Edward Hughes in the inconclusive Battle of Sadras . After both fleets spent time in port repairing , refitting , and revictualing , they met again in the April Battle of Providien , south of the Ceylonese port of Trincomalee that was ended by a storm and then nightfall . Hughes put into Trincomalee , a formerly Dutch port the British had captured in January , for repairs , while Suffren went to the Dutch - controlled port of Batticaloa . While at Batticaloa , Suffren received dispatches from the Île de France ordering him to return there to escort additional French troops to India . He chose not to do so , citing the parity between the two fleets , and the need to defend French troops already on the ground in India against the movements of the British fleet . The French ground troops , about 2 , 000 effective troops under the command of Comte du Chemin , had captured Cuddalore on 6 May . Hyder Ali , the ruler of Mysore , originally wanted the French to take the more important port of Negapatam . The French joined with Hyder ' s army of 60 , 000 to lay siege to the British at Vandavasi . When the British sent an army of 12 , 000 toward Vandivasa to relieve the siege , du Chemin , again against the wishes of Hyder , refused to engage in a battle that the French - Mysorean force would probably have won , significantly reducing the British military presence in India . Instead , Hyder lifted the siege and retreated to the vicinity of Pondicherry . There he learned of Suffren ' s actions in the first two battles with Hughes , and sent a message to Suffren to arrange a meeting . Suffren had in the meantime sailed from Batticaloa to do the job that du Chemin would not : capture Negapatam . He stopped at Cuddalore on 20 June to take on troops and supplies for the attack , which he hoped to do by surprise . When he was ready to sail he learned that Hughes had sailed past , apparently also en route to Negapatam . As his fleet had grown by captured prizes and arrivals from Île de France ( it was now twelve ships of the line and four frigates ) , Suffren gave chase and caught up with Hughes , who had anchored off Negapatam , on 5 July . 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 " . Aftermath . Following the battle , Suffren stripped M . Bouvet , the captain of " Ajax " , of his command , and arrested three others for a variety of transgressions in this battle and the previous two . One of those arrested , M . de Cillart , commander of " Sévère " , had started to strike his colours during one of the post - squall engagements , but his subordinates prevented the act . Suffren then sailed for Cuddalore to effect repairs . Hughes spent the next two weeks at sea , only returning to Madras for repairs on 20 July . Negapatam would remain in British hands till the end of the war . At the Treaty of Paris ( 1783 ) the Dutch Republic would cede Negapatam to Britain .