Unlike previous wars against the French, this one would offer Britain few, if any, strategic options like choosing to fight at Europe as opposed to one in Asia and America.[24] France and Britain fought over the control of the Channel, as one of the episodes of the globalised warfare that followed the start of the hostilities in 1778. Early in the war, the first fleet action in European waters was fought on 27 July 1778, 100 miles west of Ushant, an island at the mouth of the Channel. The two French and British battle fleets, of equal strength at 30 ships each, came to battle each other violently for several hours with neither side scoring a clear victory.