The American revolt alone did not threaten the Royal Navy's maritime position in the way France and Spain did after intervention. Britain had concentrated on a land war and had not mobilized naval resources to the same level, while political leadership disagreed over such practical measures as convoying transport. Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga encouraged Louis XVI to intervene before British leaders expected the wider Bourbon war to begin and also helped set off an Iroquois civil war. The result was strategic surprise: resources were divided across theatres just as large French fleets entered North American and Caribbean waters.
Chapter · 22:43-31:37
An empire caught under-mobilized
French intervention turned a cheaply run colonial war into a maritime crisis before Britain had mobilized its navy for a wider conflict.