Samuel Hood was one of the leading officers in the British navy during the 18th century. He entered the navy in 1741 and through talent, hard work, and political connections became a post captain in 1756. He saw combat in the French and Indian War (1754-63) and was stationed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in command of the North American naval station from 1767 to 1770. During this period he had to deal with some of the complex problems resulting from the resistance movement (1764-75), and he advised the British government to proceed cautiously and not provoke a crisis.

During the opening years of the Revolutionary War (1775-83), Hood remained in European waters or in England as commissioner of the dockyard and in command of the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth. In 1780 he was promoted to rear admiral, second in command to Sir George Bridges Rodney in the West Indies, but his first few fleet actions did not go very well. He fought an indecisive and tentative battle with a superior French fleet off Martinique on April 29, 1781, and was second in command at the Battle of Chesapeake Capes (September 5, 1781). The failure of the British fleet in the latter battle sealed the fate of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown (surrendered October 19, 1781). Hood was later very critical of Admiral Thomas Graves--in command at the battle--for not being aggressive enough. However, Hood himself did not push the attack very hard despite the confusing signals from Graves.

Hood's reputation as an admiral was made in the last years of the war when he brilliantly outmaneuvered a larger French fleet in an effort to save St. Kitt's from capture. When the British land forces lost the island anyway, he executed an incredible nighttime escape from the harbor that demonstrated his mastery of seamanship and command of men. He also participated in Rodney's victory at the Battle of the Saintes (April 12, 1782).

After the war Hood served on the admiralty board and was elected to Parliament. With the outbreak of war with revolutionary France in 1793, he took command of the fleet in the Mediterranean Sea; negotiated the surrender of the French fleet at Toulon in 1794, a major naval coup; and later oversaw the conquest of Corsica. Always too outspoken, he was removed from his combat command in 1796. For his service he had been knighted in 1778, and he was made a viscount in 1796. He died on January 27, 1816. Horatio Nelson, whose career he had sponsored, called Hood "the best Officer, take him altogether, that England has to boast of equally great in all situations which an Admiral can be placed in."

Bibliography:

George Athan Billias, ed. George Washington's Opponents: British Generals and Admirals in the American Revolution (New York: William Morrow, 1969).

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