Promoted to post-captain on 25 June 1773, Ford was appointed to the command of the post ship in April 1776 in which he saw action at the capture of American frigate in September 1778 and the action in Cancale Bay in May 1779. He commissioned the sixth-rate in July 1779 and then transferred to the command of fifth-rate in which he saw action at the Battle of the Chesapeake in September 1781 during the American Revolutionary War and again at the Battle of the Saintes in April 1782 during the Anglo-French War.