Apparently, from the beginning of the rebellion in the British colonies onward, nothing the British Empire engaged in was related to anything but that rebellion...

Much to the shock and surprise of United Staters, their rebellion was only one of hundreds which were occurring in colonies of the European powers. It was the conflicts *between* European powers which allowed some of those rebellions to successfully fester into revolutions.

One of those conflicts was the [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War]], in which Britain declared war on Nederland after growing trade difficulties led to Nederland abrogating a mutual aid treaty and declaring armed neutrality - effectively supporting France against the UK.

But the only sea battle of this war, the [[Battle of Dogger Bank (1781)]], is described by the US-centric Wikipedia as "part of the American War of Independence". Laughable, if it weren't so sad.