Conclusion

Summary

The importance of sea power to the Protectoral regime and the restored Stuart monarchy is well known. At a number of levels the navy underwent a period of major change and expansion from 1652 onwards. From deploying a force of just eighteen royal warships in March 1642, the strength of the fleet increased substantially to seventy-two ships in 1650 and 115 by 1680. Unlike the 1640s, the wars fought by the English government in the later seventeenth century, especially against the Dutch, had a strong naval dimension. Major battles took place and new tactics for fighting at sea were adopted. This era is also remembered for its personalities, men such as Samuel Pepys, who commanded the ships and administered the admiralty. Ireland was not untouched by these maritime developments. The end of the royalist maritime threat in Ireland, with the surrender of Galway and Inishbofin, did not mark the end of English naval interest in the country. Kinsale grew in importance as a naval base for English ships sailing to North America and the Caribbean. Convoys regularly put into the harbour on their outward or return voyages. In July 1666, for example, a report noted the arrival of ‘39 stout ships’ of the Virginia fleet at Kinsale. The naval dockyard and victualling office, established in the late 1640s and early 1650s, continued to operate and expand. Men-of-war regularly anchored there for repairs or to take on provisions. Even though the coast of Ireland was quite removed from the main naval engagements of the Anglo-Dutch wars ships assigned to the Irish guard saw plenty of action.