Given his force and strategic situation, how good or bad was Admiral Byng's actual performance?
Short answerIt was not disastrous, but it was sufficiently below contemporary expectations that his political defense could not save him.
NotesByng's performance is judged adequate in some respects but below what was expected at the time. His force and strategic situation did not remove that shortfall. Political intervention failed to protect him and is judged to have made his position worse. The assessment is that his performance was bad enough for the political defence to fail, despite falling short of outright incompetence.