Atlantic deployments weaken the Channel Fleet

Lord Sandwich was trying to prepare a fleet against France when ships of the line were ordered across the Atlantic to reinforce the North American station. They arrived too late to achieve the intended effect and were poorly placed to answer the larger European danger. Once Spain joined France, the Royal Navy faced a combined fleet and a serious invasion scare in the Channel. The French force had itself crossed the Atlantic and returned short of food, ammunition, and clean clothing, making concentration against it potentially decisive. Strength in home waters mattered more than reinforcing a distant station after the strategic situation had already changed.