As conflict with England was looming on the horizon, he increased shipbuilding budgets fourfold, enabling large scale shipbuilding when France entered the American War of Independence in the beginning of 1778. In the space of only one year, nine ships-of-the-line were built in the French shipyards. Sartine also initiated the building of the long breakwater which protects the port of Cherbourg and commissioned the construction of dry docks in Brest, Rochefort, Lorient, and Toulon. Particularly interested in foundries, he created the naval foundry of Indret near Nantes (now a unit of Naval Group specialized in conventional and nuclear propulsion). In these critical times, he fought successfully against insubordination in the Navy, notably by publishing a regulation in 1780 dealing with hygiene on board the vessels of the fleet and with marine crew health issues. Drawing from his police experience, he also used his spy network in the fight against England.