[6] Though the battle was indecisive, Suffren was stopped in his goal by Hughes and withdrew to Cuddalore, while the British remained in control of Negapatam.

He arrived in February 1782 and immediately engaged the British fleet of Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes in the inconclusive Battle of Sadras.

While at Batticaloa, Suffren received dispatches from Île de France (now Mauritius) that ordered him to return there to escort additional French troops to India.

As his fleet had grown by captured prizes and arrivals from Île de France (it was now twelve ships of the line and four frigates), Suffren gave chase and caught up with Hughes, who had anchored off Negapatam, on 5 July.

The next morning, Suffren was infuriated to learn that repairs had not been made to Ajax, and that her captain wanted to retreat.

The battle proceeded with vigour until about 1:00 pm, when the wind suddenly changed, throwing both lines into confusion.

[8] With occasional meetings between two ships, Hughes attempted to reform his line around 2:00 pm, but neither fleet was in a state to adopt battle positions easily, so Suffren decided to draw away downwind, to the north, toward Cuddalore.

"[9] Suffren had been thwarted in his efforts to take to Negapatam[5] – he stripped M. Bouvet, the captain of Ajax, of his command, and arrested three others for a variety of transgressions in this battle and the previous two.

One of those arrested, M. de Cillart, commander of Sévère, had started to strike his colors during one of the post-squall engagements, but his subordinates prevented the act.