12. The French Navy officially entered the war in June, 1778
The French alliance with the United States changed the Revolutionary War from an insurrection in North America to a global war. The holdings of the British East India Company in India and Asia came under immediate pressure from French competitors. Britain had to send ships to protect the valuable colonies in the West Indies and British Honduras (modern day Belize) from French attacks. Privateers from the French Channel ports and in the Mediterranean swarmed forth to attack British trade. The Royal Navy, which had actually been reduced in size during the early phases of the American war due to financial concerns, was short of ships and men to crew them.
Following the Seven Years’ War, which had been a disaster for the French fleets, the navy of Louis XVI had been modernized. The French built ships of the line and frigates which were faster and more heavily armed than their British counterparts. Three years of warfare and the casualties suffered by the treasury through the losses of trade hamstrung the British, who had not enough ships to meet all of their obligations. Meanwhile, large British fleets remained more or less idle on the North American coast, unable to either effectively blockade the American ports or suppress privateering in American waters.