Graves, Thomas Graves, Baron

Graves, Thomas Graves, Baron, 1725?–1802, British admiral. During the American Revolution his fleet was routed (1781) by the comte de Grasse at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, a defeat that led directly to Lord Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown (see Yorktown campaign). In the French Revolutionary Wars, Graves was second in command to Admiral Richard Howe in the victory over the French in 1794 and was subsequently raised to the peerage.

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