Only Hood and part of Rodney's force went to reinforce Thomas Graves before the Battle of the Chesapeake. With twenty-four French ships against nineteen British ships, a larger contingent from St Eustatius could have reversed the numerical disadvantage. As Admiral of the White, Rodney would also have superseded Graves, changing the command as well as the number of ships. A different battle result remains possible rather than certain. The wider counterfactual still faces the problem of holding a hostile population across the Atlantic through ruinously expensive garrisoning. Genocide is explicitly rejected as a means of sustaining that occupation. A possible change to one battle remains separate from the long-term political problem of American independence.
Notable Point · 1:36:17-1:40:11
Could Rodney have changed the Chesapeake campaign?
Rodney's preoccupation at St Eustatius may have denied the Chesapeake battle both additional ships and a stronger commander, though the wider American outcome remains uncertain.