British Naval Battles 1779-82 Count the ships, multiply by 700

This painting shows a battle in the Chesapeake Bay between British and French naval forces in 1781. This battle was a key to the victory at Yorktown during the America Revolution.

You can view a list of British naval battles at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1782_in_Great_Britain You can choose a different year by replacing the date. This website has hotlinks to stories about the battles. For a good example, check out the “Armada of 1779.” Copyright laws do not allow us to reproduce the individual stories, but we can show you some paintings made back in the 1700s.

Dogger Bank (Dutch)

Grenada, Caribbean

Saintes, near Jamaica

Saintes, near Jamaica

Cape Spartel, Morocco

Siege of Gibraltar

Porto Praia, Cape Verde

Trincomalee, near India

We can also put the locations of the battles on a world map, along with some information about the number of ships and the commander. This will allow us to estimate the total number of ships involved in defending British colonies in the late 1700s.

Armada of 1779 Hardy 38 ships 59,000 troops Cook Expedition 5 ships 2/1779 Anglo-Maratha War 1/1779 6000 troops Grenada 7/79 Byron 21 ships Gibraltar 79-83 Eliott 12 ships

Cordova captures 55 British ships St Vincent 1/80 Rodney 24 ships St Vincent 8/80 Cordova captures 55 British ships Anglo-Mysore War Porto Praia 4/81 Johnstone 5 ships Gibraltar 79-83 Eliott 12 ships

Chesapeake 9/81 Graves 19 ships Ushant 12/81 Kempenfelt 12 ships Channel fleet Hardy 35 ships Dogger Bank 8/81 Parker 7 ships Anglo-Mysore War Hughes 9 ships Sint Eustatius 2-11/81 Rodney 15 ships Gibraltar 79-83 Eliott 12 ships

Sadras 2/81 Hughes 9 ships St Kitts 1/82 Hood 22 ships Providien 4/82 Hughes 11 ships Saintes 4/82 Rodney 36 ships Cape Spartel 10/82 Howe 35 ships Trincomalee 8/82 Hughes 12 ships

As a separate line of evidence, note that Wikipedia also has a list that shows the names of 89 “Ships of the Line” (major warships) in the British navy between 1755 and 1785.

This old photograph shows HMS Victory, a “First-Rate Ship of the Line.” It had 3 decks, 104 guns, and a crew of 850.

We should not forget that some British ships were also involved in slave trading in the same years. This old painting shows the mass murder on the Zong slave ship in 1781.

In short, Great Britain had a lot of sailors on active duty in the ships of its global navy. They were fighting battles in many places. Meanwhile, Britain was also running an active slave trade (which required even more ships and sailors). It also had several explorer expeditions - still more ships and sailors. To see a map, look up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook#/media/File:Cook_Three_Voyages_59.png

Question Summary The British navy was fighting battles in many places during the late 1700s. These required a lot of ships and sailors. Question Was the British navy overextended, and therefore unable to send enough ships to fight the French in Chespeake Bay?

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