Naval blockade

History

Although primitive naval blockades have been in use for millennia, early attempts were limited by the time ships were able to stay at sea uninterruptedly. The first successful attempts at establishing a full naval blockade were made by the British Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War (1754–1763) against France. Following the 1759 British naval victory at Quiberon Bay, which ended any immediate threat of a major invasion of Britain, the British Royal Navy established a close blockade on the French coast. This starved French ports of commerce, weakening France's economy. Admiral Edward Hawke took command of the blockading fleet off Brest and extended the blockade to cover the entire French Atlantic coast from Dunkirk to Bordeaux, and to Marseille on France's Mediterranean coast.