It was Admiral de Grasse who defeated the British in the battle of the Capes...the Battle of the Chesapeake. Louis XV’s minister of war was the first to come up with the idea of aiding the Americans against the British in order to weaken the British in their ongoing war with the French, LaFayette’s intervention with Louis XVI sealed Franklin’s efforts. Lafayette had equipped his own soldiers and purchased a ship to sail to America to aid the Americans...all at his own expense. He was nineteen years old. He was 20 when he was badly wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He is buried at Paris under soil from Bunker Hill. The American flag flies at his grave.
Thanks.
The fellow I named was commander of an earlier French fleet sent to help us. De Grasse did indeed command the French fleet that disrupted the English Navy come to reinforce or rescue the British at Yorktown.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Chesapeake