The American naval officer John Paul Jones sailed to France as captain of the Ranger in November 1778. On his arrival on 14 February 1779, he was welcomed with gun salutes in Quiberon Bay by a French admiral's ships.

This was the first time that the American flag was officially recognized by a foreign power. A comparable event had occurred previously, in November 1776, at St. Eustatius, when the American warship Andrew Doria (sometimes spelled Andrea Doria) sailed into the harbour of the island. In accordance with the international rules of etiquette, captain Robinson lowered the new American flag and greeted the Dutch fort by firing a 13-gun salute. Fort Oranje replied by order of the governor, Johannes de Graaff, with an 11-gun salute. Thus he had in effect recognized the rebellious American states in the name of the Dutch Republic. A major commotion ensued. The fact that the governor had acted on his own authority and not on behalf of the States General of the Netherlands, did not convince the British government. The British were very much offended and the incident was to form one of the immediate causes for the outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780 - 1784).