 Since the Spanish Armament of 1790 , the Royal Navy had been at sea in a state of readiness for over three years . The Navy 's dockyards under First Lord of the Admiralty Charles Middleton were all fully fitted and prepared for conflict . This was quite unlike the disasters of the American Revolutionary War ten years earlier , when an ill @-@ prepared Royal Navy had taken too long to reach full effectiveness and was consequently unable to support the North American campaign — which ended in defeat at the Battle of Yorktown due to lack of supplies . With British dockyards now readily turning out cannon , shot , sails , provisions and other essential equipment , the only remaining problem was that of manning the several hundred ships on the Navy list . 
