Editing Glorious First of June (section)

===Centre===
The centre of the two fleets was divided by two separate squadrons of the British line: the forward division under admirals [[Benjamin Caldwell]] and [[Sir George Bowyer, 1st Baronet|George Bowyer]] and the rear under Lord Howe. While Howe in ''Queen Charlotte'' was engaging the French closely, his subordinates in the forward division were less active. Instead of moving in on their opposite numbers directly, the forward division sedately closed with the French in line ahead formation, engaging in a long distance duel which did not prevent their opponents from harassing the embattled ''Defence'' just ahead of them.{{sfn|James |2002|p=158}} Of all the ships in this squadron only [[HMS Invincible (1765)|HMS ''Invincible'']], under [[Thomas Pakenham (Royal Navy officer)|Thomas Pakenham]], ranged close to the French lines. ''Invincible'' was badly damaged by her lone charge but managed to engage the larger [[French ship Deux Frères|''Juste'']].{{sfn|James |2002|p=159}} [[HMS Barfleur (1768)|HMS ''Barfleur'']] under Bowyer did later enter the action, but Bowyer was not present, having lost a leg in the opening exchanges.{{sfn|Padfield |2000|p=32}}

Howe and ''Queen Charlotte'' led the fleet by example, sailing directly at the French flagship [[French ship Océan (1790)|''Montagne'']]. Passing between ''Montagne'' and the next in line [[French ship Vengeur du Peuple|''Vengeur du Peuple'']], ''Queen Charlotte'' raked both and hauled up close to ''Montagne'' to engage in a close-range artillery battle.{{sfn|Padfield |2000|p=24}} As she did so, ''Queen Charlotte'' also became briefly entangled with [[French ship Auguste (1778)|''Jacobin'']], and exchanged fire with her too, causing serious damage to both French ships.{{sfn|Padfield |2000|p=31}}

To the right of ''Queen Charlotte'', [[HMS Brunswick (1790)|HMS ''Brunswick'']] had initially struggled to join the action. Labouring behind the flagship, her captain [[John Harvey (Royal Navy officer)|John Harvey]] received a rebuke from Howe for the delay. Spurred by this signal, Harvey pushed his ship forward and almost outstripped ''Queen Charlotte'', blocking her view of the eastern half of the French fleet for a time and taking severe damage from French fire as she did so. Harvey hoped to run aboard ''Jacobin'' and support his admiral directly, but was not fast enough to reach her and so attempted to cut between [[French ship Annibal (1779)|''Achille'']] and ''Vengeur du Peuple''. This manoeuvre failed when ''Brunswick's'' anchors became entangled in ''Vengeur's'' rigging. Harvey's [[Master mariner|master]] asked if ''Vengeur'' should be cut loose, to which Harvey replied "No; we have got her and we will keep her".<ref name="ODNBJHarvey"/> The two ships swung so close to each other that ''Brunswick's'' crew could not open their gunports and had to fire through the closed lids, the ships battering each other from a distance of just a few feet.{{sfn|James |2002|p=161}}

Behind this combat, other ships of the centre division struck the French line, [[HMS Valiant (1759)|HMS ''Valiant'']] under [[Thomas Pringle (Royal Navy officer)|Thomas Pringle]] passing close to [[French ship Patriote (1785)|''Patriote'']] which pulled away, her crew suffering from [[Infectious disease|contagion]] and unable to take their ship into battle.{{sfn|James |2002|p=165}} ''Valiant'' instead turned her attention on ''Achille'', which had already been raked by ''Queen Charlotte'' and ''Brunswick'', and badly damaged her before pressing on sail to join the embattled van division.{{sfn|Padfield |2000|p=31}} [[HMS Orion (1787)|HMS ''Orion'']] under [[John Thomas Duckworth]] and [[HMS Queen (1769)|HMS ''Queen'']] under Admiral [[Alan Gardner, 1st Baron Gardner|Alan Gardner]] both attacked the same ship, ''Queen'' suffering severely from the earlier actions in which her masts were badly damaged and her captain [[John Hutt (Royal Navy officer)|John Hutt]] mortally wounded.{{sfn|Padfield |2000|p=31}} Both ships bore down on the French [[French ship Northumberland (1780)|''Northumberland'']], which was soon dismasted and left attempting to escape on only the stump of a mast. ''Queen'' was too slow to engage ''Northumberland'' as closely as ''Orion'', and soon fell in with [[French ship Jemmapes (1794)|''Jemmapes'']], both ships battering each other severely.{{sfn|Tracy |1998|p=99}}