William Pitt the Younger became prime minister at 24 and treated fleet mobilization as an instrument of policy. In 1787 the Dutch Patriots displaced the House of Orange and mistreated the Prussian princess married to the Prince of Orange. Prussia mobilized an army while Britain warned that it would not accept a pro-French Dutch government and prepared naval pressure from the other direction. The House of Orange returned quickly, showing how a fleet could reinforce an ally's land threat without beginning a major naval war.
Chapter · 18:43-20:52
Pitt combines British fleet pressure with Prussian mobilization
During the Dutch crisis of 1787, British naval pressure and a mobilizing Prussian army trapped the Patriot government between two forms of coercion.