The thing about the English navy was that it was primarily composed of England's merchant marine, whereas the Spanish navy was primarly 'professional', although its professionalism was of no account.
The primary difference between them is best described by Mahan, but I do not have my copy of his essay so I will just write what I can remember. He talks about the French (who in this case have the same mindset as the Spanish)
The French bring a more stragegic emphasis to sea warfare as many of their admirals and captains were trained as soldiers before they became naval officers; their usage of fleets is often more efficient as it reflects upon a land campaign. However, their total emphasis upon the capture of strategic points cripples their fleet and makes it subservient to ulterior, and inherently inferior, objectives. The English, whose officers are frequently members of the merchant marine, focus more upon the objective of eliminating the enemy fleet, realizing that all ulterior objectives can be captured at leisure if there is no enemy force to oppose them. Their usage of their ships is often haphazard from a strategic point of view, but always excellent from a tactical point of view.
The British emphasis on the elimination of the primary enemy force on the seas is highly successful; Napoleon's similar emphasis on annhilating the primary enemy force as regards to land combat is equally successful.
The point is, the ship numbers are fine but there needs to be some kind of emphasis on the difference in aims between these two forces. The Spanish (like the French) have locked their fleet upon the capture of a land position, thereby crippling its ability to perform the primary duties of a fleet, namely the annhilation of the enemy force afloat. The English fleet has as its objective the protection of England, which obviously necessitates the proper course of action, namely the destruction of the enemy's forces.
The number of hit points a unit has is (in my opinion) the best way to indicate strategic significance, as these units are more likely to survive a combat with a higher health total IF they survive. They can therefore go longer without seeing a port. Combat statistics and bombardment seem to reflect tactics, crew efficiency, and better armarments.
A ship with better stats will, even if it wins, will still take more damage as a percentage of the total than a ship with higher hit points in a similar victory.
This was actually an act of shameless self promotion ;p
I am totally satisfied with the Brits having lethal sea bombard, and was actually unaware of this fact!
However, if the Brits are to be so shamefully outnumbered, perhaps you could give them a ROF of two on the Sea Dogs; it would make it so that bombard-and-run tactics would be far more effective!
;p