Inshore Squadron

A detached Royal Navy force kept close inshore to enforce the blockade of an enemy port, distinct from the offshore squadron that cruised further out. During the Napoleonic Wars the inshore squadron off Brest watched the French Atlantic fleet at anchor, lying among the rocks and tides of the Iroise to give early warning if the enemy put to sea, while Admiral Cornwallis held the main fleet over the horizon. The arrangement let the Royal Navy maintain the continuous close blockade that kept the French battle fleet bottled up for years.