in north sea , atlantic ocean, fleets of england , later britain, netherlands, france, spain , portugal fought numerous battles. in baltic sea, sweden, denmark, netherlands, , russia did likewise, while in mediterranean sea, ottoman empire, venice, spain, france, britain , russia battled.
during napoleonic wars, britain s royal navy established supreme world naval power defeating spanish fleet near cape st vincent in 1797, french fleet @ bay of aboukir off egyptian coast @ battle of nile in 1798, combined franco-spanish fleet near cape trafalgar in spain @ battle of trafalgar in 1805, , danish fleet in bombardment of copenhagen in second battle of copenhagen (1807). britain emerged napoleonic wars in 1815 largest , professional navy in world, composed of hundreds of wooden, sail-powered ships of sizes , classes. royal navy demonstrated naval supremacy again during crimean war in 1850s.
nonetheless, napoleonic wars, american war of 1812, had illustrated shortcomings of ships of line when enemy resorted tactics including large-scale use of privateers. both french , americans had demonstrated menace small, lightly armed, fast, nimble, and, especially, numerous vessels sloops , schooners when spread across wide oceans, operating singly or in small groups. targeted merchant shipping britain s economic lifeblood, , ships of line few, slow, , clumsy employed against them.
overwhelming firepower of no use if not brought bear: royal navy s initial response napoleon s privateers, operated french new world territories, buy bermuda sloops. similarly, east india company s merchant vessels became lightly armed , quite competent in combat during period, operating convoy system under armed merchantman, instead of depending on small numbers of more heavily armed ships.
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