In September she was with Richard Howe's fleet, blockading the French in Boston and in 1779, transferred to the West Indies, where she took part in the Battle of Grenada that July.

Following a refit at Plymouth, Sultan was sent to join Sir Edward Hughes' fleet in the East Indies, arriving from England on 30 March in time to fight in the battles of Providien, Negapatam and Trincomalee.

When John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich, began his third term as First Lord of the Admiralty, he immediately ordered seven new third-rate ships.

[1] These Royal Oak-Class ships differed from the designs of Sir Thomas Slade in that they had blunter bows and sharper sterns.

Comprising 13 ships-of-the-line and a frigate, these reinforcements for the war in America, under the command of Rear-Admiral John Byron, had been delayed for some months due to a shortage of manpower.

Shortly after the Battle of St Lucia, the frigate HMS Pearl arrived, carrying details of the island's capture and the two ships left in company on 16 February.

They arrived at Spithead on 22 March with papers and reports from Byron, Admiral Samuel Barrington and Major-General James Grant.

[1] The British ships were away on escort duty, when on 18 June, a French force under the Comte D'Estaing, attacked and captured the island of St Vincent.

[10] The rest of the British fleet, while attempting to form line, engaged discontinuously and, outnumbered, was badly mauled in the disorganised attack.

[12] In June 1780, Sultan was part of William Cornwallis's small squadron, comprising two 74s, two 64s, a 50-gun ship and a frigate, sent by the Commander-in-Chief of the Jamaica Station, Admiral Hyde Parker, to accompany a British merchant fleet bound for England.

[1] In 1782, having at some point returned to home waters, Sultan and Magnanime were sent back to the East Indies to join Sir Edward Hughes' fleet, arriving from England in time to fight in the battles of Providien, Negapatam and Trincomalee.

Encountering Hughes en route to Trincomalee, neither ship had an opportunity to land the sick and reinforce, and were thus forced to do battle with depleted crews.

[16][15] Hughes in the 74-gun Superb, accompanied by the 74-gun Hero, the 68-gun Monarca, the 50-gun Isis, and the five 64-gun ships, Exeter, Burford, Monmouth, Worcester and Eagle, had left Madras on 12 March and was sailing with reinforcements for Trincomalee.

[15] Twelve French ships-of-the-line, under Admiral Pierre André de Suffren, having landed troops to assist in the siege of Cuddalore, was heading south when on 9 April the British fleet was seen.

When, on the morning of 12 April, it became apparent that he was going to be overhauled, Hughes had his ships form line-of-battle with Sultan and Magnanime at the rear.

[18] On arrival at Negapatam, the fleet learned that Cuddalore had surrendered on 4 April, and Suffren was a few miles north preying on British merchant vessels.

The French fleet, reinforced with its prizes, appeared at 13:00 on 5 July[19] and at 15:00, with a monsoon approaching, Hughes' ships sailed out, heading south, to steal the weathergauge.

At 06:00, Suffren ordered his ships to get under way but found that one of his 64s, Ajax, was unable to comply, having lost a mast during the previous night's storm.

The fourth ship in the French line therefore was badly damaged in the opening exchanges and, with one of its masts brought down, was forced to retire.

With Suffren now approaching in the 74-gun Héros, Sévère ran up her colours and fired into Sultan's stern, causing considerable damage.

Towards the centre however, a heavy close-action took place, initially with Sultan, Superb, Burford, Eagle, Hero and Monarca against Héros, Illustre and Ajax.

[24] By the time Brillant and Artésien arrived in support of their French comrades, Ajax had been so badly damaged, she was forced to withdraw.

It was 15 November before the fleet was ready to leave and the journey took upwards of two months, during which time Hughes moved his flag to Sultan.

Suffren, battling the same conditions, spent the next four days getting to Cuddalore, where he supplemented his crews with 1,200 French troops before leaving on 18 June.

When darkness fell, the British hove-to while the French fleet continued on the same tack, anchoring the next morning, 25 nmi (46 km) north of the city.