and anchored the rest of the fleet in the Îles d'Hyères in preparations for further operations; four months later the fleets fought a second engagement, the Battle of the Hyères Islands, which also ended in a minor British victory. Background The French Revolutionary Wars expanded significantly in February 1793 when the National Convention of the newly-formed French Republic declared war on the Kingdom of Great Britain. To defend British commercial interests in the Mediterranean Sea, a Royal Navy fleet was assembled and sent to blockade the French Mediterranean Fleet in their main port of Toulon on the Southern coast of France. On arrival in August 1793, the British fleet found that Toulon was in a state of upheaval due to the Reign of Terror, and the British commander Lord Hood persuaded the citizens to declare for the French Royalist cause and allow British forces to seize the town and the French fleet. Republican forces laid siege to the city and four months of heavy fighting followed until the Royalists and their allies were expelled on 18 December. During the chaotic evacuation of the city most of the French Mediterranean fleet was set on fire by British and Spanish boarding parties. In the aftermath, the British launched an invasion of Corsica while the French set about rebuilding their fleet. Due to failures by Spanish landing parties, many of the naval stores in Toulon had survived the fire as had more than half of the fleet, although many ships were badly damaged. For most of 1794 the surviving French ships remained in harbour, the new commander Contre-amiral Pierre Martin leading a brief sally in June with seven ships of the line which was forced to shelter at Gourjean Bay to escape an attack by Lord Hood's fleet. Problems stemming from the French Revolution several years earlier meant that the French fleet was suffering severe reductions in experience and morale in comparison with the British fleet. By 1795 the full surviving strength of the French Mediterranean Fleet had been restored, Martin mustering 15 ships of the line and six frigates for an operation in the Ligurian Sea. The purpose of this operation is uncertain; the report of the Committee of Public Safety to the National Convention stated that the fleet was at sea to secure shipping lines in the Mediterranean, while other sources indicate that an amphibious landing in Corsica was the intention.