[3] The commanders of the two squadrons of the British fleet were already personally and politically at odds with each other, and failed to make a concerted attack on the French.

[4] The battle, which was the first major naval engagement in the Anglo-French War of 1778, ended indecisively with no ships lost on either side and led to recriminations and political conflicts in both countries.

The British had a fleet of thirty ships-of-the-line, four frigates, and two fire-ships commanded by Admiral Augustus Keppel, in HMS Victory, which sailed from Spithead on 9 July.

[5] The French fleet had thirty-two ships-of-the-line, seven frigates, five corvettes and one lugger, commanded by Vice-Admiral Comte d'Orvilliers, who had sailed from Brest on 8 July.

[7] Keppel tried for three days to bring the French to action but d'Orvilliers declined, maintaining his position upwind and heading into the Atlantic.

[7] At 6 a.m. on 27 July, with the British fleet roughly line-abreast, Keppel gave the order for the rear division, several miles away under Sir Hugh Palliser, to chase to windward.

As the rearmost ships of the French fleet were tacking, however, the wind changed allowing the British to close the gap between them and their quarry.

A further change in wind direction to the south-west gave advantage to the British which d'Orvilliers sought to negate by ordering his ships about.

The French practice of firing high into the rigging had left several of the British ships disabled and it was this group that Keppel now stood down towards whilst making the signal, 'form line of battle'.

Far from a victory, it was now reported as being at best indecisive, and Chartres was accused by d'Orvilliers of either misunderstanding or deliberately ignoring an order to engage the enemy.

[14] The captains of Alexandre and Duc de Bourgogne, Trémigon and Rochechouart, were subject of an inquiry for their failure to take part in the battle after they got separated from the fleet in the night of 23 to 24 July.