Sovereign, Resolution, James, Triumph, Vanguard, and other large ships gave the Commonwealth a weight of fire the Dutch could not match. Below that heavy core, Blake's list included smaller state vessels, hired merchantmen, fire ships, and former Dutch or French prizes. The mixture shows that a seventeenth-century battle fleet was not yet a uniform line of purpose-built ships. It was flexible enough to absorb commercial and captured hulls, but its greatest tactical advantage still came from the handful of exceptionally powerful ships at the top.
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Great ships, merchant auxiliaries, and captured hulls
Blake's fleet combined first-rate state warships with hired merchants and captured Dutch and French vessels, creating a flexible force with an exceptional heavy-gun core.