Fleet Command

The sitter wears an admirals undress uniform, 1783-1787, of a blue jacket with gold braid and his own white hair. On 1 June 1794, in command of the Channel Fleet, Howe won the first fleet engagement of the French Revolutionary War, over 400 miles west of Ushant. The French were badly beaten with one ship sunk and six captured but the important grain convoy from America, which they had sailed to pr...