The graph shows the changing number of ships on active duty in the Spanish Navy, and documents the first two stages of the naval policy devised by the Bourbon dynasty: the years after the decree of 1726, establishing the headquarters for the three new naval departments; and the decade of the 1750s, a result of the plans laid down by the Marquis of Ensenada. In the first stage that policy was directed towards the Mediterranean, in the second towards the Atlantic; and in both cases centre stage was taken by the 'new technologies' of the time, the 'ships of the line' which carried more than 50 guns.