Royal Oak at the Battle of Chesapeake

Royal Oak sailed in the British center behind Thomas Graves's flagship London, while Invincible began in Hood's van and Terrible in a rear division that became the van as the fleet reversed its order. That confusion compounded a force disadvantage: nineteen British ships faced twenty-four French ships, with some British crews under-exercised after lying at New York and others worn down by prolonged operations. One criticism of Graves is that he wanted a complete picture before acting, whereas Arbuthnot was more willing to seize an opportunity. A possible alternative at Chesapeake was to slip behind the French fleet, enter the bay, and reopen the supply route to Yorktown. That counterfactual makes access to the bay the operational objective.