I completely agree with you on your recommendation of the work Command of the Ocean. I would also highly recommend the preceding volume by the same author The Safeguard of the Sea. I have both and they are excellent. However, they are not the last word and there are many other worthwhile books on the navies of the belligerents, most notably the British and French as both background material and to demonstrate that the French weren't helpless at sea. The effort the French took in rebuilding their navy after the disasters of the Seven Years' War, and then defeating the British in the War of the Revolution, 1778-1783, is noteworthy. If you would like some more titles that might expand the viewpoint, I will gladly post them. If not, then that's fine also.

The main difference between Britain and France is that Britain is a maritime nation and it's navy was constructed to protect interests in that area. France is a major land power on the other hand, and its navy was built by Louis XIV for the purpose of fighting the Royal Navy. Every other concern in that area was secondary. The Germans prior to War I and the Russians post War II did essentially the same thing-build a large navy to combat someone else's (Great Britain's and the United States', respectively). I just did a paper for my masters' program on that topic and it is very interesting. Generally speaking, there are two types of navies: one that evolves naturally for maritime nations and those that are falsely created merely to fight someone else's navy and it is normally a major or dominant land power that tries to do that. You cannot be a dominant land and naval power at the same time-usually, if not always, it divides finite assets and takes away from the major focus and either you lose or you go broke, or both.

Sincerely,
Kevin