Jamaica was the campaign's economic prize

The planned campaign followed Yorktown but pursued a different strategic prize. Jamaica was worth more to Britain's economy than the thirteen colonies combined, making it a source of revenue as well as territory. French planners hoped that taking it would weaken Britain across the wider war. Spain could also accept Jamaica and the Windward Islands as compensation for repeated failures against Gibraltar. The proposed invasion therefore linked coalition diplomacy, imperial economics, and naval control of the Caribbean.