Royal Navy Admiral Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington, who had advised against engaging the superior French fleet but had been overruled by Queen Mary II of England and her ministers, was court-martialled for his performance during the battle.

The deposed James II of England fled to Ireland as a first step to regain the throne following his deposition after the Glorious Revolution.

In August 1689, Marshal Frederick Schomberg had been sent from England to bolster the forces loyal to King William but after the Siege of Carrickfergus his army had stalled through the winter of 1689–90, suffering from sickness and desertion.

A substantial part of the fleet was in the Mediterranean under Vice Admiral Henry Killigrew, which the Earl of Nottingham, William's Secretary of State and chosen naval advisor, hoped would neutralize the French Toulon squadron.

Sir Cloudesley Shovell remained in the Irish Sea but his squadron was much too small to stop the French controlling these waters if they chose to do so.

The French decided not to use their fleet as a subsidiary to the Irish campaign; King Louis XIV instead directed his navy against Torrington in the Channel.

[9] On 24 June, unmolested by the French fleet, William landed in Carrickfergus with 15,000 men for his Irish campaign, much to the consternation of James's chief lieutenant in Ireland, the Earl of Tyrconnel, who later wrote: "The want of a squadron of French men-of-war in St George's Channel has been our ruin ... "[10] After evading Killigrew off Cadiz, the Toulon squadron (Château-Renault) joined Tourville's fleet on 21 June.

At about 08:00 the Allies, who had the weather gage, ran down together in line abreast, elongated in order to cover the whole French fleet and prevent doubling at either end.

When Torrington brought the remainder of the red squadron into action, he found difficulty in getting close enough because of the sag in the French line and came no closer than twice gunshot range.

[17] Admiral Tourville, finding himself with few adversaries in the centre, pushed forward his own leading ships, which Torrington's dispositions had left without opponents, further strengthening the French attack in the van.

He ordered his ships to drop their anchors while in full sail, the French – who were not sufficiently alert – were carried off by the current and out of cannon range.

To oppose the threatened invasion, 6,000 regular troops, together with the hastily organised militia, were prepared by the Earl of Marlborough for the country's defence.

The day after Beachy Head, 11 July, William decisively defeated Louis' ally, James II, at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.

[24] The Marquis de Seignelay, who had succeeded his father Colbert as naval minister, had not planned for an invasion and had thought no further than Beachy Head, writing to Tourville before the engagement – " ...

To the fury of Louis and Seignelay, the sum of Tourville's victory was the symbolic and futile burning of the English coastal town of Teignmouth in July.

Torrington blamed the defeat on the lack of naval preparations and intelligence – he had not been informed that the Brest fleet had been reinforced with the Toulon squadron.

[27] To the outrage and astonishment of William and his ministers – and the delight of the English seamen who, rightly or wrongly, regarded him as a political sacrifice to the Dutch – the court acquitted him.