9 - The Offensive Strategy of the Spanish Navy, 1763–1808

Summary

[N]aval warfare alone [with Great Britain] is entirely manageable for Spain … But it is necessary to do it well: not to be side-tracked by expeditions, attempting to seize or recapture [territory]. This is the main point: to aim carefully and to fire only at the target that is the foundation of her pride … her navy and her commerce, which are one and the same.

Vice Admiral José de Mazarredo, 1795

In this tribute to Professor Hattendorf, a renowned expert in naval strategy, it seems fitting to offer an analysis of a little-known aspect in the history of the Spanish Navy in the eighteenth century: its offensive strategy. The common perception of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain and her colonial empire during this period is that it was always on the defensive, pressured by the double leviathan of the French Army and the British Navy. According to this conventional perception, Spain focused its energies on a traditional active defence of the status quo, aimed at securing communications and protecting its trade monopoly with Spanish America, in addition to sustaining its far-flung possessions overseas. This strategy forced its enemies – the French, Dutch and British – into expending a great deal of effort to turn the tide. Moreover, throughout the eighteenth century, the superiority of the British – Spain's principal rival at the time – in naval warfare and seamanship, and in commerce, manufacturing, technology and finance, had forced Spanish political and naval leaders to emphasise a defensive strategy. It truly was suicide to go looking for battle in the absence of superiority, or at least parity, of force. It was playing into the hands of the enemy. Spain's defensive stance, moreover, benefited from the line of battle, which meant that both opponents could not overpower each other, and was especially detrimental to the interests of Great Britain.

But this is only part of the picture. As is well known, strategy is the art of the dialectics of force, of opposing interests. It is also the art of creating, maintaining and regaining power.