while the french repaired, hood devoted 1794 to capturing the island of corsica, intending to use it as a forward base for the blockade of toulon. this took longer than expected, and by 1795 hood had retired, replaced by william hotham. hotham faced the repaired french fleet under pierre martin, who led several sorties from toulon, leading to two inconclusive british victories at the battles of genoa and the hyères islands. martin then deployed smaller squadrons on destructive operations against british commerce. due to military success in italy and diplomatic negotiations with spain, by 1796 britain's allies had broken away; spain declared war on britain in september, leaving the british fleet exposed between two powerful enemies. unwilling to risk destruction of their fleet in the mediterranean, the admiralty withdrew the british, now under the command of sir john jervis, to the tagus, abandoning the mediterranean.