He fought at Bantry Bay in May 1689 and Beachy Head in July 1690, a defeat that caused panic in England. Churchill was a close friend of the Earl of Torrington, commander at Beachy Head, who was ordered by Edward Russell to attack a French force considerably larger than his own. In the recriminations that followed, Torrington was court-martialled and acquitted but William dismissed him from the navy.