Articles tagged with war at sea

Mahan on King William's War

The importance of seapower was growing in the later 17th century. Mahan begins his classic The influence of sea power upon history with this era. Over the next century great-power war would become increasingly global, making command of the seas all the more vital.

A few extracts from Mahan covering the 1690s. From Chapter IV on the war of the League of Augsburg.

War of the League of Augsburg

(FP note) The war of 1688 - 1697 has many names. The prosaic Nine Years War, or the more traditional War of the League of Augsburg. The latter has fallen out of favour, in that there was a League of Augsburg, but the war was fought by a wider alliance, and the name does not shed light on the war's reasons or aims. In the north American theatre, where English and French settlers recruited rival groups of native forces, it has generally …

English navy under the later Stuarts

James Stuart, Duke of York, was Lord High Admiral from 1660 to 1673 and had taken a close personal interest in the Navy. But he was required to step down from this post in 1673 after the passing of the Test Act. Interestingly, he remained Lord High Admiral of Ireland and of the Plantations, which allowed him a share of profits from prizes and wrecks in those jurisdictions. He had also, shortly before his resignation in England, managed to succeed to the same responsibility for Scotland. The previous holder of the post, a distant Stuart cousin, drowned in the icy waters off Copenhagen while attempting to get on board his own ship - having enjoyed rather too much Danish hospitality. (Davies 2017, p. 108)

For the next six years (1673 - 1679), James continued to play a considerable role behind the scenes while the Admiralty was technically in commission (overseen by a …