In 1797 the republic was dissolved and the city of Genoa itself was occupied by a French army. The lands that had formerly been under the control of the city of Genoa were reconstituted into the Ligurian Republic, a French client state. However, the Genoese navy remained intact. In 1798 the Ligurian fleet dispatched some of its ships to aid Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt and Syria; this ended in disaster when the French fleet was scattered or destroyed at the Battle of the Nile.