 Within minutes of issuing the signal and turning his flagship 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 . 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 . 
 Within minutes of issuing the signal and turning his flagship HMS Queen Charlotte , Howe <a href='null_genetive' title='1'><mark>'s</mark></a>plan began to falter . Many of the British captains had either misunderstood or ignored the signal and <a href='uninflect' title='2'><mark>were</mark></a> hanging back in the original line . Other ships <a href='uninflect' title='3'><mark>were</mark></a> still struggling with damage from Howe <a href='null_genetive' title='4'><mark>'s</mark></a>earlier engagements and could not get into <a href='negative_concord' title='5'><mark>action</mark></a> fast enough . The result was a ragged formation tipped by Queen Charlotte <a href='null_relcl' title='6'><mark>that</mark></a>headed unevenly for Villaret <a href='null_genetive' title='7'><mark>'s</mark></a>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 <a href='null_genetive' title='8'><mark>'s</mark></a>order and attacked the French directly arrived in action without significant damage . 
Within minutes of issuing da signal and turning his flagship HMS Queen Charlotte , Howe  plan began to falter . Many of the British captains had either misunderstood or ignored the signal and was hanging back in the original line . Other ships was still strugglin wid damage from Howe  earlier engagements and could not get into no action fast enough . The result was a ragged formation tipped by Queen Charlotte headed unevenly for Villaret  fleet . The French responded by firing on tdaBritish ships as they approached , but the lack of training and coordination in thdarench fleet was obvious ; many ships which did obey Howe  order and attacked the French directly arrived in action without significant damage .