Beachy Head Sussex United Kingdom

Louis XIV's navy is on the point of winning world supremacy.

At the outbreak of the War of the Grand Alliance between France and the other major European powers, French lieutenant general Anne-Hilarion de Cotentin, count de Tourville, had broken the English blockade of Brest, preventing an invasion of Brittany.

For this he is promoted to vice admiral of the Mediterranean fleet and naval commander in chief.

His victory over the Anglo-Dutch fleet off Beachy Head, near Sussex, on July 10, 1690, gives rise to fears of a Jacobite invasion of England and causes panic in London but is not followed up.