[Secret Agent Man]

seeing they could do a blockade with ships they didn’t have to sink, i don’t quite believe this bs.

[Sacajaweau]

It was a ship that was ready for the scrap yard. The idea was to block the port not create a target.

During the Revolutionary war, Rochambeau's fleet blockaded the Chesapeake, putting the British ships "up the creek" one might say and a few days later "turned the world upside down".