The Battle of Saint Kitts, also known as the Battle of Frigate Bay, was a naval battle fought on 25 and 26 January 1782 during the American Revolutionary War between a British fleet under Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood and a larger French fleet under the Comte de Grasse.

When Hood returned to the West Indies in late 1781 after the Battle of the Chesapeake, he was for a time in independent command owing to Admiral George Rodney's absence in England. The French admiral, the Comte de Grasse, attacked the British islands of St Kitts and Nevis with 7,000 troops and 50 warships, including the 110-gun Ville de Paris. He started by besieging the British fortress on Brimstone Hill on 11 January 1782. Hoping to salvage the situation, Hood made for St Kitts by departing Antigua on 22 January with 22 ships of the line, compared to de Grasse's 36.

The British fleet on 24 January consisted of 22 sail of the line, and was close off the southeast end of Nevis. They ran into and captured the French 16-gun cutter Espion, which carried a large amount of ammunition for the besieging French forces at Brimstone Hill.

At daybreak on 25 January, the French fleet was discovered having stood to the southward of Basseterre, consisting of a 110-gun ship, 28 two-decked ships, and two frigates. Hood stood towards the French fleet with the apparent intention of bringing on action, and effectively drew the French fleet off the land. As soon as Hood effected this maneuver, he was aided by a favorable change in wind and was able to guide his fleet within the anchorage of Basseterre, which the French admiral had just quit. Hood ordered his fleet in an L-formation and then ordered his fleet to lay anchor. De Grasse made three distinct attacks upon the British fleet on 26 January but was repulsed.

The Pluton, commanded by D'Albert de Rions, led the French line, "receiving the crashing broadside of ship after ship until the splintered planking flew from her off side and her rigging hung in a tangled mass." Chauvent goes on to describe the battle as "...a sulphurous hell, with cannon vomiting forth flame and death." The entire battle lasted from 7:00 am to 6:30 pm, with the major action in the afternoon.

Damage on both sides was heavy, though the French suffered higher casualties. However, Hood was unable to stop the French and could only observe the land action. After the successful French siege of Brimstone Hill fortress, St Kitts and Nevis surrendered on 12 February.

Hood left on the 14th and joined forces with the recently arrived Admiral George Rodney.

Admiral Sir Samuel Hood's fleet

Ship	Rate	Guns	Commander	Casualties			Notes
				Killed	Wounded	Total
Van
HMS St Albans	Third rate	64	Captain Charles Inglis	0	0	0
HMS Alcide	Third rate	74	Captain Charles Thompson	2	4	6
HMS Intrepid	Third rate	64	Captain Anthony James Pye Molloy	2	0	2
HMS Torbay	Third rate	74	Captain John Lewis Gidoin	0	0	0
HMS Princessa	Third rate	70	Rear-Admiral Francis Samuel Drake Captain Charles Knatchbull	2	4	6	Flagship of van
HMS Prince George	Second rate	98	Captain James Williams	1	3	4
HMS Ajax	Third rate	74	Captain Nicholas Charrington	1	12	13
Centre
HMS Prince William	Third rate	64	Captain George Wilkinson	0	3	3
HMS Shrewsbury	Third rate	74	Captain John Knight	3	7	10
HMS Invincible	Third rate	74	Captain Charles Saxton	0	2	2
HMS Barfleur	Second rate	98	Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood Captain Alexander Hood	9	24	33	Flagship of centre
HMS Monarch	Third rate	74	Captain Francis Reynolds	2	2	4
HMS Belliqueux	Third rate	64	Captain Lord Cranstoun	5	7	12
HMS Centaur	Third rate	74	Captain John Nicholson Inglefield	0	12	12
HMS Alfred	Third rate	74	Captain William Bayne	2	20	2
Rear
HMS Russell	Third rate	74	Captain Henry Edwyn Stanhope	8	29	37
HMS Resolution	Third rate	74	Captain Lord Robert Manners	5	11	16
HMS Bedford	Third rate	74	Commodore Edmund Affleck Captain Thomas Graves	2	15	17	Flagship of Rear
HMS Canada	Third rate	74	Captain William Cornwallis	1	12	13
HMS Prudent	Third rate	64	Captain Andrew Barclay	18	36	54
HMS Montagu	Third rate	74	Captain George Bowen	7	23	30
HMS America	Third rate	64	Captain Samuel Thompson	1	17	18
Attached frigates
Van
HMS Eurydice	Sixth rate	20	Captain George Wilson	0	0	0
Centre
HMS Pegasus	Sixth rate	28	Captain John Stanhope	0	0	0
HMS Fortunee	Sixth rate	28	Captain Hugh Cloberry Christian	0	0	0
HMS Lizard	Sixth rate	28	Captain Edmund Dod	0	0	0
HMS Champion	Sixth rate	20	Captain Thomas West	1	1	2	To repeat signals
HMS Convert	Fifth rate	32	Captain Henry Harvey	0	0	0
HMS Triton	Sixth rate	28	Captain John M’Laurin	0	0	0
Rear
HMS Sibyl	Sixth rate	28	Captain John Norton	0	0	0
HMS Solebay	Sixth rate	28	Captain Charles Everitt	0	0	0
Total recorded casualties: 72 killed, 244 wounded

Admiral de Grasse's fleet

Division	Ship	Guns	Commander	Casualties			Notes
				Killed	Wounded	Total
	Souverain	74	Glandevès du Castellet
	Hercule	74	Chadeau de la Clocheterie
	Languedoc	80	Arros d'Argelos
	Duc de Bourgogne	80	Champmartin Barras de Saint-Laurent (Lieutenant General)
	Marseillais	74	Castellane Majastre
	Jason	64	Couète de Villages
	Magnanime	74	Le Bègue de Germiny
	Zélé	74	Gras-Préville
	Éveillé	64	Le Gardeur de Tilly
	Saint-Esprit	80	Chabert-Cogolin
	Sceptre	74	Vaudreuil
	Ville de Paris	104	De Grasse (Lieutenant General) Cresp de Saint-Césaire (Flag captain)
	César	74	Coriolis d'Espinouse
	Northumberland	74	Bricqueville
	Diadème	74	Monteclerc
	Glorieux	74	Pérusse des Cars
	Citoyen	74	De Thy
	Scipion	74	Dassas
	Ardent	64	Bernard de Marigny
	Neptune	74	Renaud d'Aleins
	Auguste	80	Bougainville (Chef d'Escadre) Castellan (flag captain)
	Bourgogne	74	Charritte
	Pluton	74	Albert de Rions
	Caton	64	Framond
	Sagittaire	50	Montluc de la Bourdonnaye
	Experiment	50	Médine

• Allen, Joseph (1852). Battles of the British Navy. London: Henry Bohn. pp. 325. Hood.
• Clowes, William Laird., (1897) The Royal Navy: a history from the earliest time to the present, Volume 3
• Jaques, Tony Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E Greenwood 2006 ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5
• Marley, F. David. Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present ABC-CLIO (1998). ISBN 0-87436-837-5
• Schomberg, Isaac (1802). Naval Chronology:or, An Historical Summary of Naval & Maritime Events, From the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace, 1802. Vol. 4. London: T. Egerton by C. Roworth.
• Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 2. Challamel ainé.

• Buttrey Manuscript "Battle of St. Kitts - perhaps first hand account