"An indecisive naval battle, a farcical aftermath, the ... " Topic

…guillotine and a "Citizen King".

"France's entry into the American War of Independence was to prove a critical factor is assuring the survival of the United States. It did so by winning the only strategically-significant victory in all French naval history – that off the Virginia Capes in 1781, which starved British forces at Yorktown of supllies and made their surrender unavoidable. The unforeseen cost to the French monarchy of supporting this upstart republic founded on democratic principles was however to be enormous. French officers returned from America with the conviction that France's governmental system was rotten and unsustainable. Once that fact was widely recognised revolution was inevitable and the whole bloody process would commence in 1789.

The driver for French involvement in the war was the adage that "My enemy's enemy is my friend" (an often dangerous assumption, as it was in this case) and the objective was to strike at Britain, the old enemy with which she had fought a long sequence of wars over the previous century. France's supply of arms to the American rebels and her formal recognition of the United States in February 1778 made it inevitable that Britain would declare war on France in the following month. The initial confrontations had to be naval, since control of sea routes to and from North America was essential for both sides.

France possessed a fleet in the Mediterranean and a second, based at Brest in Brittany to operate in Atlantic and Channel waters. An important strategic decision was the Britain's commitment to concentrating its resources in the Channel Fleet so as to blockade French forces at Brest. By doing so, attacks on merchant shipping to and from Britain, and any French attempt at mounting an invasion, could be countered. The situation changed however when a French naval force slipped out of the Mediterranean and headed for the Americas. There was no option but to detach forces from the Channel Fleet to follow this force. This still left the French and British navies in rough numeric balance in and off Brest and made a French break-out more feasible…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Boy does this article read like sour grapes!

HMS Victory's greatest triumph would occur two years later in 1780? I think some would argue in favor of 1805.

All in all, not an article I would recommend to my friends.

Michael

French officers returned from America with the conviction that France's governmental system was rotten and unsustainable.

This myth (which is itself mis-represented here) is comprehensively de-bunked by Samuel Scott's "From Yorktown to Valmy" in which he tracks the involvement of the Yorktown regiments in the French Revolution, and shows them to be among those that remained loyal to the King the longest.

It was not indoctrinated officers that led to the French Revolution, it was the bankruptcy of the government after spending all of that money on the war. Louis' fiscal advisors all opposed going to war.

Agree!

Amicalement
Armand

Always a big mistake to neglect to feed the people – you can manage without the circenses, but not the panem …

Hence the main task for the French fleet at 'Glorious First of June' was to protect the convoy. Probably still a little annoyed at the result thought – hence the more prosaic French title of "Prarial".

Sort of a "nothing to see here – move along" title for a naval battle.

The posted article plays a little fast and loose with some facts and sustains some discredited myths. Not a very well researched piece, I fear.