Second Battle of Ushant

12 December 1781, Bay of Biscay, west of Ushant

British victory; the French convoy broken up

Guichen sailed from Brest with nineteen ships of the line escorting a great convoy of troops and stores for de Grasse in the West Indies and Suffren in India. Kempenfelt, sent out with only twelve ships to intercept it, found the escort to leeward of the convoy, swept down and took fifteen transports with more than a thousand soldiers before Guichen could come up. He could not fight nineteen ships of the line and drew off, but a gale scattered the French a few days later and most of the convoy went back to Brest. The reinforcements de Grasse needed for the attack on Jamaica never came.