Laforey took command of the newly commissioned HMS "Ocean" as his first captaincy in the war, and with her served for three years, fighting at the First Battle of Ushant with the squadron of Admiral Keppel. The action was successful, but the aftermath spilled out into a bitter row coloured by party politics. Laforey, as a longtime supporter of Keppel, gave evidence for him at his court martial but Keppel left the Navy despite his acquittal and Laforey was dispatched to a temporary shore command at Antigua, commanding the Leeward Islands Station . There he established numerous reforms in the dockyard at English Harbour, improving cleaning and repair operations at the port. The commission was fraught with difficulty however as many captains and junior admirals refused to respond to Laforey's orders as he was of lower rank than they were. This substantially hindered operations on Antigua until Admiral Rodney promoted him to Commodore in 1780 to compensate.