09-05-2003, 10:48 PM
Quote:They did more than that, in that they were able to locally contest command of the sea, though due to resource limitations, not over a borad area. Had they been irrelevant, the RN would have approached Maritime Dominance: complete and uncontested use of the sea lanes. That is not shown by the historical record, though on the balance the RN certainly had their way more often than not.
I guess we can agree to disagree, but I would say that the only reason that the RN didn't have complete Maritime Dominance in the North American/Caribbean theatre was because of the elements of the French navy that were in the area which were far more important and dangerous to the RN than a handful of American frigates.
Regarding Maritime Dominance and whether anyone has ever achieved it, yeah, I guess it'd depend on your definition. The British in the late 1800's were pretty close to it, though. And one could argue that with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the mothballing of much of its fleet, the US has now come pretty close to it, too.