The Conquérant was originally designed and built by François Coulomb the Younger at Toulon from 1745 to 1747, as a modified version of the same constructor's Terrible built at the same dockyard in 1736-40. In need of major repairs by early 1755, she was not employed throughout the Seven Years' War, after which she was formally taken out of service on 17 March 1764 and was rebuilt by Joseph-Louis Ollivier at Brest from January to December 1765 as a Citoyen-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

The Battle of Ushant took place on 27 July 1778, and was fought during the American Revolutionary War between French and British fleets 100 miles (160 km) west of Ushant, an island at the mouth of the English Channel off the westernmost point of France. "Ushant" is the anglicised pronunciation of "Ouessant".