Dutch naval power has been in decline since 1712.

The fleet had been long neglected and therefore the Dutch navy, having only twenty ships of the line at the start of the conflict, is no match for the British Royal Navy.

Although the States General had decided on a substantial expansion of the fleet in 1779, just before the fateful decision to offer limited convoys, and had even voted the funds for such a naval-construction program, it has progressed but slowly.

Another reason for the slow expansion of the Dutch fleet is a lack of suitable recruits—the Dutch navy pays lower wages than the merchant marine and does not use impressment like the Royal Navy.

The number of available ships had been diminished even more at the start of the war when several ships were captured by the British in the West Indies because they were unaware the war had started.

A convoy under rear-admiral Willem Crul is lost this way near St. Eustatius in February 1781, and the admiral is killed in the short action.

The pronounced inferiority of the Dutch fleet, and its state of "unreadiness" is a frequently reiterated excuse for the Dutch naval commanders, especially vice-admiral Andries Hartsinck, who commands the Texel squadron, to keep the fleet at anchor, thereby ceding dominance of the North Sea to the blockading British fleet.

Within a few weeks of the beginning of the war more than two hundred Dutch merchantmen, with cargo to the amount of fifteen million guilders, have been captured by the British and three hundred more are locked up in foreign ports.

Another reason for the lack of activity of the Dutch navy is the fact that diplomatic activity never ceases and gives the Dutch government the illusion that the war will be of only short duration.

Empress Catherine, though she refuses to come to the aid of the Dutch, is at first very active in offering her services to mediate the dispute.

Both the British and the Dutch, with varying amounts of sincerity, cooperate  in these diplomatic maneuvers, which come to nothing, but help to keep military activities at a low level while they last.