Naval War College Review Volume 67 Article 6 Number 1 Winter 2014 The deI a of a “Fleet in Being” in Historical Perspective John B. Hattendorf Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review Recommended Citation Hattendorf, John B. (2014) "The deI a of a “Fleet in Being” in Historical Perspective," Naval War College Review: Vol. 67 : No. 1 , Article 6. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol67/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Hattendorf: The Idea of a “Fleet in Being” in Historical Perspective THE IDEA OF a “FLEET IN BEING” IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE John B. Hattendorf he phrase “fleet in being” is one of those troublesome terms that naval his- torians and strategists have tended to use in a range of different meanings. TThe term first appeared in reference to the naval battle off Beachy Head in 1690, during the Nine Years’ War, as part of an excuse that Admiral Arthur Herbert, first Earl of Torrington, used to explain his reluctance to engage the French fleet in that battle. A later commentator pointed out that the thinking of several Brit- ish naval officers ninety years later during the War for American Independence, when the Royal Navy was in a similar situation of inferior strength, contributed an expansion to the fleet-in-being concept.