Editing Glorious First of June (section)

==British break the line==
Within minutes of issuing the signal and turning his flagship [[HMS Queen Charlotte (1790)|HMS ''Queen Charlotte'']], Howe's plan began to falter. Many of the British captains had either misunderstood or ignored the signal and were hanging back in the original line.{{sfn|Padfield |2000|p=22}} Other ships were still struggling with damage from Howe's earlier engagements and could not get into action fast enough. The result was a ragged formation tipped by ''Queen Charlotte'' that headed unevenly for Villaret's fleet. The French responded by firing on the British ships as they approached, but the lack of training and coordination in the French fleet was obvious; many ships which did obey Howe's order and attacked the French directly arrived in action without significant damage.{{sfn|James |2002|p=155}}

===Van squadron===
[[File:Pocock Glorious First of June1.jpg|thumb|''HMS ''Defence'' at the Battle of the Glorious 1 June 1794'', by [[Nicholas Pocock]]{{efn|Pocock had been an officer with the British Fleet at the Glorious First of June, serving aboard the repeating frigate [[HMS Pegasus (1779)|HMS ''Pegasus'']].}}]]

Although ''Queen Charlotte'' pressed on all sail, she was not the first through the enemy line. That distinction belonged to a ship of the [[Vanguard (military tactics)|van squadron]] under [[Thomas Graves, 1st Baron Graves|Admiral Graves]]: [[HMS Defence (1763)|HMS ''Defence'']] under Captain [[James Gambier]], a notoriously dour officer nicknamed "Dismal Jimmy" by his contemporaries.{{sfn|Gardiner|2001a|p=32}} ''Defence'', the seventh ship of the British line, successfully cut the French line between its sixth and seventh ships; [[French ship Orion (1787)|''Mucius'']] and [[French ship Tourville (1788)|''Tourville'']]. Raking both opponents, ''Defence'' soon found herself in difficulty due to the failure of those ships behind her to properly follow up.{{sfn|James |2002|p=158}} This left her vulnerable to ''Mucius'', ''Tourville'' and the ships following them, with which she began a furious fusillade. However, ''Defence'' was not the only ship of the van to break the French line; minutes later [[George Cranfield Berkeley]] in [[HMS Marlborough (1767)|HMS ''Marlborough'']] executed Howe's manoeuvre perfectly, raking and then entangling his ship with [[French ship Impétueux (1787)|''Impétueux'']].{{sfn|Padfield |2000|p=29}}{{sfn|James |2002|p=157}}

In front of ''Marlborough'' the rest of the van had mixed success. [[HMS Bellerophon (1786)|HMS ''Bellerophon'']] and [[HMS Leviathan (1790)|HMS ''Leviathan'']] were both still suffering the effects of their exertions earlier in the week and did not breach the enemy line. Instead they pulled along the near side of [[French ship Éole (1789)|''Éole'']] and [[French ship America (1788)|''America'']] respectively and brought them to close gunnery duels. Rear-Admiral [[Thomas Pasley]] of ''Bellerophon'' was an early casualty, losing a leg in the opening exchanges. [[HMS Royal Sovereign (1786)|HMS ''Royal Sovereign'']], Graves's flagship, was less successful due to a miscalculation of distance that resulted in her pulling up too far from the French line and coming under heavy fire from her opponent [[French ship Terrible (1780)|''Terrible'']]. In the time it took to engage ''Terrible'' more closely, ''Royal Sovereign'' suffered a severe pounding and Admiral Graves was badly wounded.{{sfn|James |2002|p=157}}

More disturbing to Lord Howe were the actions of [[HMS Russell (1764)|HMS ''Russell'']] and HMS ''Caesar''. ''Russell's'' captain [[John Willett Payne]] was criticised at the time for failing to get to grips with the enemy more closely and allowing her opponent [[French ship Téméraire (1782)|''Téméraire'']] to badly damage her rigging in the early stages, although later commentators blamed damage received on 29 May for her poor start to the action.{{sfn|James |2002|p=156}}There were no such excuses, however, for Captain [[Anthony James Pye Molloy|Anthony Molloy]] of ''Caesar'', who totally failed in his duty to engage the enemy. Molloy completely ignored Howe's signal and continued ahead as if the British battleline was following him rather than engaging the French fleet directly.{{sfn|Padfield |2000|p=24}} ''Caesar'' did participate in a desultory exchange of fire with the leading French ship ''Trajan'' but her fire had little effect, while ''Trajan'' inflicted much damage to ''Caesar's'' rigging and was subsequently able to attack ''Bellerophon'' as well, roaming unchecked through the melee developing at the head of the line.{{sfn|James |2002|p=155}}

===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}}

===Rear===
Of the British rear ships, only two made a determined effort to break the French line. Admiral [[Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport|Hood]]'s flagship [[HMS Royal George (1788)|HMS ''Royal George'']] pierced it between [[French ship Royal Louis (1780)|''Républicain'']] and [[French ship Sans Pareil|''Sans Pareil'']], engaging both closely, while [[HMS Glory (1788)|HMS ''Glory'']] came through the line behind ''Sans Pareil'' and threw herself into the melee as well. The rest of the British and French rearguard did not participate in this close combat; [[HMS Montagu (1779)|HMS ''Montagu'']] fought a long range gunnery duel with [[French ship Neptune (1778)|''Neptune'']] which damaged neither ship severely,{{sfn|James |2002|p=167}} although the British captain [[James Montagu (Royal Navy officer)|James Montagu]] was killed in the opening exchanges, command devolving to Lieutenant [[Ross Donnelly]].<ref name="ODNB">[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7823 Donnelly, Sir Ross], ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', [[John Knox Laughton|J. K. Laughton]] and [[Andrew Lambert]], (subscription required), retrieved 10 May 2012</ref> Next in line, [[HMS Ramillies (1785)|HMS ''Ramillies'']] ignored her opponent completely and sailed west, Captain [[Henry Harvey]] seeking ''Brunswick'', his brother's ship, in the confused action around ''Queen Charlotte''.{{sfn|James |2002|p=163}}

Three other British ships failed to respond to the signal from Howe, including [[HMS Alfred (1778)|HMS ''Alfred'']] which engaged the French line at extreme range without noticeable effect, and Captain [[Sir Charles Cotton, 5th Baronet|Charles Cotton]] in [[HMS Majestic (1785)|HMS ''Majestic'']] who likewise did little until the action was decided, at which point he took the surrender of several already shattered French ships. Finally [[HMS Thunderer (1783)|HMS ''Thunderer'']] under [[Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet|Albemarle Bertie]] took no part in the initial action at all, standing well away from the British line and failing to engage the enemy despite the signal for close engagement hanging limply from her mainmast. The French rear ships were no less idle, with [[French ship Entreprenant (1787)|''Entreprenant'']] and [[French ship Seduisant (1783)|''Pelletier'']] firing at any British ships in range but refusing to close or participate in the melees on either side. The French rear ship [[French ship Saint-Esprit (1766)|''Scipion'']] did not attempt to join the action either, but could not avoid becoming embroiled in the group around ''Royal George'' and ''Républicain'' and suffered severe damage.{{sfn|James |2002|pp=167–168}}