THE NAVAL WAR IN EUROPE.

THE BATTLE OF USHANT 1778 During the same two months that saw the contest between d'Estaing and Howe in America the only encounter between nearly equal fleets in 1778 took place in European waters.

Admiral Keppel, having returned to Spithead after the affair between the _Belle Poule_ and the _Arethusa_,[38] again put to sea on the 9th of July, with a force increased to thirty ships of the line.

He had been mortified by the necessity of avoiding action, and of even retiring into port, with the inadequate numbers before under his command, and his mind was fixed now to compel an engagement, if he met the French.
The Brest fleet also put to sea, the day before Keppel, under the command of Admiral the Comte d'Orvilliers.

It contained thirty-two ships of the line.