A War of Information: Spanish Naval Intelligence During the American Revolutionary War (1775–83)

Early-Modern war absorbed large material resources, including manpower, warships, guns, ammunition and supplies, but there was one key element of warfare that was quite immaterial: information. This article analyses Spanish naval intelligence and deals with the production, collection, and management of information within and through the navy. To examine this complex issue this paper will focus on the Spanish naval intelligence system during the American Revolutionary War (1776–83). By the 1770s and the 1780s the Spanish navy had developed and improved an efficient framework that provided decisive information for the mobilisation of its naval forces.