Plymouth becomes the blockade's support base

The Admiralty searched for a suitable western base after attempts to operate from Portsmouth, Torquay, and Chatham proved inadequate. Falmouth already had defences, but Plymouth offered more room for the dockyard to expand from one dry and one wet dock into a complex of docks, stores, barracks, and moorings. Britain could also move supplies there by sea under convoy while the blockade restricted the French ships capable of attacking that traffic. A century of sustained investment mattered as much as a harbour's position on a map.