François Joseph Paul de Grasse Lieutenant Général des Armées Navales François - Joseph Paul , marquis de Grasse Tilly , comte de Grasse ( 13 September 1722 – 11 January 1788 ) was a French admiral . He is best known for his command of the French fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake , which led directly to the British surrender at Yorktown . De Grasse was decisively defeated the following year by Admiral Rodney at the Battle of the Saintes , where he was captured . He was widely criticised for this . On his return to France , he demanded a court martial ; he was acquitted of fault in his defeat . Early life . François - Joseph de Grasse was born and raised at Bar - sur - Loup in south - eastern France , the last child of Francois de Grasse Rouville , Marquis de Grasse who earned his title and supported his Provençal family . At the age of eleven , he entered the Order of Malta as a page of the Grand Master . Naval career . In 1734 , de Grasse became an ensign on the galley s of the Knights Hospitaller . In 1741 at the age of 19 , he entered the French Navy . Following Britain ' s victory over the French in the Seven Years War , de Grasse helped rebuild the French navy in the years after the Treaty of Paris ( 1763 ) . American War of Independence . In 1775 , the American War of Independence broke out when American colonists rebelled against British rule . France supplied the colonists with covert aid , but remained officially neutral until 1778 . The Treaty of Alliance ( 1778 ) established the Franco - American Alliance and France entered the war . As a commander of a division , de Grasse served under Louis Guillouet , comte d ' Orvilliers at the First Battle of Ushant from July 23 to 27 , 1778 . The battle , fought off Britanny , was indecisive . In 1779 , he joined the fleet of Count d ' Estaing in the Caribbean and distinguished himself in the battles of Dominica and Saint Lucia during 1780 and of Tobago during 1781 . He contributed to the capture of Grenada and took part in the three actions fought by Guichen against Admiral Rodney in the Battle of Martinique ( 1780 ) . Yorktown campaign . He came to the aid of Washington and Rochambeau ' s Expédition Particulière , setting sail with 3 , 000 men from Saint - Domingue . De Grasse landed the 3 , 000 French reinforcements in Virginia , and immediately afterward decisively defeated the British fleet in the Battle of the Chesapeake in September 1781 . He drew away the British forces and blockaded the coast until Lord Cornwallis surrendered , ensuring the independence of the United States of America . Battle of the Saintes . He returned to the Caribbean , where he was less fortunate and was defeated at the Battle of St . Kitts by Admiral Hood . Shortly afterward , in April 1782 , he was defeated and taken prisoner by Admiral Rodney at the Battle of the Saintes . He was taken to London , and while there briefly took part in the negotiations that laid the foundations for the Peace of Paris ( 1783 ) , which brought the war to an end . He returned to France , published a " Mémoire justificatif . " In 1784 , he was acquitted a court - martial . Later life . He died at Tilly ( Yvelines ) in 1788 ; his tomb is in the church of Saint - Roch in Paris . His son Alexandre Francois Auguste de Grasse published a " Notice biographique sur l ' amiral comte de Grasse d ' après les documents inédits " in 1840 . Memorials . There is a monument commemorating Admiral de Grasse and the sailors who helped the United States achieve its independence from the British Crown at the Cape Henry Memorial , Joint Expeditionary Base East , Virginia Beach , Virginia . It is maintained by the Colonial National Historical Park of the National Park Service . A statue of Admiral de Grasse is in the Place de la Tour of Le Bar - sur - Loup , the village where he was born and grew up and another statue is located in the riverwalk landing located in Yorktown , Virginia . " De Grasse " was the name of two medium - sized French Line passenger ships , one built in 1924 in Scotland , and the other formally the 1956 - built " Bergensfjord " of Norwegian America Lines , which was introduced in 1971 . The first ship was famous world - wide , servicing the transatlantic route and later served the allies as a troop ship in World War II . Refitted , she was the first French Liner to inaugurate service after the war ' s end . After being supplanted by newer ships in the company , the liner was sold in 1952 to Canadian Pacific Lines as an emergency replacement for their fire - damaged " Empress of Canada " for the busy Coronation Year season , was sold again in 1956 to Grimaldi - Siosa Lines and then to a another firm who modernized her further and renamed her " Venezuela . " After grounding near Cannes in 1962 , she was scrapped later in the year . " " The second " De Grasse " served the Le Harve - Southampton - West Indies service with little success , as the old colonial trades were being supplanted by the airlines . West Indies cruises , plus assignments to the Baltic , Mediterranean , and North Africa also suffered mixed profits , she was sold off in 1973 , lived under a short string of new Israeli and Greek owners , and , after two fires in 1977 and 1980 , was scrapped in Greece . Ayn Rand claimed to have emigrated to America on the first " De Grasse " . References . A . Kingsley Macomber , an American resident of France since the end of World War I , commissioned the monument of Admiral de Grasse at the Trocadero Palace in Paris in 1931 . The Grasse River , which flows through St . Lawrence County , New York , is named for him . Other vessel names . The French Navy has had two vessels named in his honour : The United States Navy has had three vessels named in his honour :