Atlantic Campaign of May 1794 - Glorious First of June

Glorious First of June

For more details on this topic, see Glorious First of June.

At 09:24 on the morning of 1 June, Howe sent his ships into action using the original tactic of turning each ship in his line northwest simultaneously, so that they would bear down individually on Villaret's fleet and each break the enemy line separately. His intention was to cut the French line in 25 places, raking the enemy vessels at both bow and stern and dividing their fire so they could be defeated piecemeal. Ultimately though this ambitious plan failed, due to ill-discipline among Howe's subordinates and the damage his fleet had sustained over the previous week. While six of Howe's ships did break the French line as ordered, and several others came close, many of his captains failed to follow orders and instead engaged the enemy from a distance in desultory gun duels which had little effect.

As various British and French ships broke off into personal duels and some latecoming British ships struggled to get into action, Villaret led his flagship Montagne to the north and began assembling a coherent counter-force from those of his fleet which had escaped Howe's assault. In the melee itself several very hard-fought engagements took place—particularly that between HMS Brunswick and Vengeur du Peuple. At least twelve ships were dismasted, with the British battleships HMS Marlborough and HMS Defence losing all three masts and ten French vessels suffering similarly.

By 11:30 the initial action was dying down, and Villaret brought his reconstituted force back towards the battlesite to contest ownership of the dismasted hulks floating there. Howe likewise reformed his main force and met Villaret, who failed to capture any of the battered British ships but did regather six of his own, leaving Howe with seven prizes. Of these, the wrecked Vengeur soon sank, although British boats had removed many of her crew. Howe was left in possession of the battlesite, but Villaret had successfully held off the British long enough for the convoy to pass to the east unmolested. Both fleets returned to their home ports over the next week.