SORRY is correct, the US fleet very slightly outgunned them at Ays. Pirates fought well and chose correct strategy (shooting masts seems to always be the best option, in every situation).
The Americans put themselves in a bad situation by joining the battle very late, then attempting a frontal assault upwind into the Pirate line.
Sadly it takes me two weeks of PVE to pay for participating in a single port battle loss. The disparity between winning and losing is huge, on the order of a million gold for the winners and 50-100k for the losers. I'm surprised any nation can sustain deep water campaigns for more than a couple weeks.
Much of the great naval action in this game is walled off behind thousands of hours of grind, and it wears people down. Almost makes me miss Sea Trials. Hope to have at least a couple more good fights while I can still afford it.
Cheers rats, we'll meet again soon.