Comparison of European navies' tonnage in the mid-1700s

In the mid-eighteenth century, the British Empire often had more than double the amount of naval ships than any of their European rivals. Between 1740 and 1760, the British navy grew over each five year period. In 1760 alone, Britain had a larger navy than France, Spain and the Netherlands combined. In this time, Britain's investment in their naval capabilities paved the way for their future dominance of the seas, and this dominance would enable Britain to become the world's most powerful empire in the nineteenth century.