 Protected from immediate invasion by the English Channel , Britain prepared for an extensive naval campaign and dispatched troops to the Netherlands for service against the French . Throughout the remainder of 1793 , the British and French navies undertook minor operations in Northern waters , the Mediterranean and the West and East Indies , where both nations maintained colonies . The closest the Channel Fleet had come to an engagement was when it had narrowly missed <unk> the French convoy from the Caribbean , escorted by 15 ships of the line on 2 August . The only major clash was the Siege of Toulon , a confused and bloody affair in which the British force holding the town — alongside Spanish , <unk> , Austrian and French Royalist troops — had to be evacuated by the Royal Navy to prevent its imminent defeat at the hands of the French Republican army . The aftermath of this siege was <unk> by <unk> and accusations of cowardice and betrayal among the allies , eventually resulting in Spain switching allegiance with the signing of the Treaty of San <unk> two years later . Nevertheless , the siege produced one major success : Sir Sidney Smith , with parties of sailors from the retreating British fleet , accomplished the destruction of substantial French naval stores and shipping in Toulon . More might have been achieved had the Spanish raiding parties that accompanied Smith not been issued with secret orders to stall the destruction of the French fleet . 
