Contents	8
	List of tables	10
	Maps	12
	Preface	20
	1 “ The age of sail” and naval history	22
	2 The changing maritime world	34
	The North Sea	35
	The Baltic	39
	The Mediterranean	40
	The Eastern Atlantic coast: France	41
	The Eastern Atlantic coast: Spain	43
	The Eastern Atlantic coast: Portugal	47
	The Western Atlantic: the Caribbean	49
	The Western Atlantic: South and Central America	51
	The Western Atlantic: North America and Canada	52
	Africa	54
	The Far East	55
	Conclusion	56
	3 The battlefleet and the idea of seapower in the early modern world	58
	4 The establishment of the battlefleet, 1650 – 88	80
	The First Anglo-Dutch War 1652–4	86
	The Second Anglo-Dutch War 1664–7	104
	The Franco-Dutch and Anglo-Dutch Wars 1672–8	112
	The Franco-Dutch/Spanish War	117
	Conclusions	122
	Battlefleets and cruising squadrons, 1678–88	129
	The Dutch invasion of England, 1688	136
	5 The growth of operational flexibility	142
	The components of operational flexibility	142
	Finance and administration	143
	Materials and shipyards	150
	Seamen and manpower	156
	Private investment in naval war	161
	Ship technology	164
	The officer corps	165
	The handling of navies: tactics and strategy	167
	6 The Nine Years War ( 1688 – 97) and the War of Spanish Succession ( 1701 – 13)	170
	1689–90: Bantry Bay and Beachy Head	170
	1691–2: Barfleur and La Hogue	175
	1693–4: Smyrna convoy and the Mediterranean	176
	1695–7: the limits of seapower	182
	The War of Spanish Succession 1701–13	185
	1702-13: the guerre de course	196
	War and the influence of seapower	200
	7 Seapower on the world stage, 1713 – 56	204
	The Baltic 1700–27	209
	Anglo-Spanish disputes, 1718–39	210
	The Anglo-Spanish War, 1739–44	213
	The war with France and Spain, 1744–8	214
	8 The Seven Years War and global seapower ( 1756 – 63)	224
	1748–55: recovery and development	224
	1756–8: the effects of attrition	228
	1759–63: the collapse of French seapower	234
	9 The acceleration of naval competition: 1763 – 89	240
	The Baltic 1721–90	242
	The Eastern Mediterranean, 1720–90	244
	France: recovery and expansion, 1763–78	248
	Spain: 1763–78	254
	Britain: 1763–78	255
	Global maritime war: the threat to British supremacy, 1778–80	262
	The global war: the British in crisis 1780–1	266
	The global war: the British recovery, 1782–3	269
	The global war: conclusions	271
	10 Seapower and global hegemony, 1789 – 1830	278
	1783–93: the apogee of naval competition	279
	1793 – 6	285
	1797 – 1805	290
	1805 – 15	294
	1815 – 30	298
	11 Seapower, battlefleets and naval warfare	302
	Appendix: the nominal strength of selected sailing navies, 1680 – 1830	310
	Notes	318
	Chapter One	318
	Chapter Two	320
	Chapter Three	325
	Chapter Four	330
	Chapter Five	337
	Chapter Six	342
	Chapter Seven	346
	Chapter Eight	350
	Chapter Nine	352
	Chapter Ten	358
	Chapter Eleven	362
	Select bibliography	364
	The battlefleet and the idea of seapower in the early modern world	365
	The establishment of the battlefleet, 1650–88	365
	The Growth of operational flexibility	365
	The Nine Years War (1688–97) and the War of Spanish Succession ( 1701 – 13)	366
	Seapower on the world stage 1713–56	366
	The Seven Years War and global seapower, 1756–63	366
	The acceleration of naval competition, 1763–89	367
	Seapower and global hegemony, 1789–1830	367
	Seapower, battlefleets and naval warfare	368
	Index	370