The First Battle of Ushant was fought between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy at the start of the Anglo-French War in 1778.
At the start of hostilities, the British admirals Augustus Keppel and Hugh Palliser - who were personally and politically at odds with each other - each made plans to attack the French fleet anchored at Ouessant in the Bay of Biscay. The disorganized British attack occurred as the French headed into the Atlantic, and Palliser's irregularly-patterned ships were badly mauled while being attacked piecemeal. Keppel eventually assumed command of Palliser's division, by which time the French fleet was able to sail off. Keppel was forced to retreat to Plymouth to repair his ships. King Louis XVI announced a victory, and Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, who carried the news of the triumph to Paris and Versailles, received a 20-minute standing ovation at the Paris Opera. However, he was soon mocked by street ballads and forced to leave the navy after it became known that the French had failed to defeat the British fleet. In Britain, Keppel was court-martialled but cleared of misconduct in action, while Palliser was criticized by an inquiry before the affair turned into a Tory-Whig squabble.