And a secondary question if anybody feels like answering it: How large was the Spanish Navy at the height of the Spanish Empire during the Age of Sail?
For both questions I'm looking for estimated (or better yet, concrete) ship numbers (and hopefully the number in each class/rate as well). The military/history nerd inside me is dying to know how many ships, and how many of each type of ship, you would need to dominate the globe like these continent-spanning empires did before the inventions of steam, modern communications and airplanes.
1714: 247 ships of 167,219 tons
1760: 412 of 321,104 tons
At the end of the Napoleonic they had 776 at 724,810 tons. 113,000 seamen and 31,400 marines.
Source: Men-of-War: Life in Nelson's Navy By Patrick O'Brian.
Edit: Number and Rates: 1793 153 ships of the line, 43 50 gun and 44 gun 4th rates or razees, 99 frigates, and 102 unrated vessels.
Ships of the line? Frigates? Hospital ships, supply ships, etc?
Let's see... From my copy of Nelsons Navy, I see that in 1790 the Royal Navy had just under 500 ships listed. Please be a little more specific. 'The age of sail' for The Royal Navy lasted over 350 years.