Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - Ball ya shiga Royal Navy, kuma a ranar 7 ga Agusta, 1778, an ba shi mukamin Laftanar. Shekaru uku bayan haka ya fara hulɗa da Sir George Rodney. Ball ya zama kwamandan kwamandan a ranar 14 ga Afrilu, 1782, kwana biyu bayan nasarar da shugaban ya samu
, kuma ya dauki umurnin. A ranar 20 ga Maris 1783 ya zama kyaftin. Da aka dawo da zaman lafiya, an ba Ball hutun rabin albashi. Bayan haka, ya yi shekara guda a ƙasar Faransa don ya koyi yaren kuma ya yi rayuwa mai sauƙi. Kyaftin Horatio Nelson a wannan lokacin ba shi da sha'awar abokinsa na gaba da abokin tarayya, kuma ya bayyana Ball a matsayin "babban coxcomb".