Episode 4 of 4
French rigging fire disables British ships
- When
- 27 July 1778
- Where
- British fleet off Ushant
- Part of
- First Battle of Ushant
French ships firing high into the rigging disabled several British vessels, towards which Keppel stood down while signalling to form line of battle.
The French practice of firing high into the rigging had left several of the British ships disabled. It was towards this group of damaged vessels that Keppel now stood down whilst making the signal to 'form line of battle', reflecting the damage inflicted during the engagement and the difficulties of reorganizing the British fleet.
Sources
- Battle of Ushant (1778) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-20
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.