Naval Operations in The American Revolutionary War - France Enters The War, 1778

France Enters The War, 1778

Benjamin Franklin had been in France for over a year before France decided to join the war. The surrender at Saratoga prompted the French ambassador Lord Stormont was recalled from Paris, but since neither fleet was ready for service, actual hostilities did not begin until July.

The French government was somewhat more ready than the British. On April 13, it dispatched a squadron of twelve sail of the line and four frigates from Toulon to America under the command of the Comte d'Estaing. No attempt was made to stop him in the Straits of Gibraltar, he passed them on May 16, and, though the rawness of his crews and his own error in wasting time in pursuit of prizes delayed his passage, he reached the mouth of the Delaware River on July 8 without opposition.

The French government had three goals in view: to help the Americans win their independence; to expel the British from the West Indies; and to compel the British to concentrate the majority of their naval strength in the English Channel. To convince the British of they were seriously planning an invasion of England, the French fitted out a second and more powerful fleet at Brest under the command of Louis Guillouet, comte d'Orvilliers.

The British government, having neglected to occupy the Straits of Gibraltar in time, despatched Admiral John Byron from Plymouth on June 9 with thirteen sail of the line to join Admiral Lord Howe, Sir William's brother, in America. He collected a strong force at home, called the Western Squadron, under Augustus Keppel.

Keppel, after a preliminary cruise in June, brought d'Orvilliers to action off Brest on July 27, 1778, in the Battle of Ushant. The fleets were equal and the action was indecisive, as the two forces merely passed one another, cannonading. A violent quarrel exacerbated by political differences broke out among the British commands, which led to two courts-martial and to the resignation of Keppel, and did great injury to the discipline of the navy. No further event of note occurred in European waters.

On the coast of America, the news of the approach of d'Estaing compelled the British commanders to evacuate Philadelphia on June 18, 1778. Howe then concentrated his force of nine small line-of-battle ships at Sandy Hook on June 29, and on July 11, he learned that d'Estaing was approaching. The French admiral did not venture to make an attack, and on July 22, he sailed to cooperate with the Americans in an effort to expel the British garrison from Rhode Island. Howe, who had received a small reinforcement, followed. The French admiral, who had anchored above Newport, came to sea to meet him, but both fleets were scattered by storms, suffering some damage. D'Estaing sailed to Boston on August 21 to effect repairs.

Howe received no help from Byron, whose badly equipped fleet was damaged and scattered by a gale on July 3 in the mid-Atlantic. His ships slowly arrived during September. Howe resigned on July 25 and was succeeded by Byron.