How to reduce sea attrition in Europa Universalis 4

Question

I have been playing this game of EU4 as Scotland for a long time now and have lost many ships to attrition, until I figured out what it was. Earlier in the game I had trained up a massive army to attack England but I didn't want to die so I just invaded some nearby regions, which turned out to be very easy. But now I have an army with nothing to do with which I would hate to dissolve. So I though I would attack the USA (whom I created), when I have a navy that can carry my army, but I cannot because of naval attrition. When transporting my army over the atlantic they will all surely die of attrition.

So my question is, is there any way of reducing naval attrition enough to transport 30 or more ships across the atlantic without too many losses? [PS: Don't try and give me advice on how to play the game, unless that advice is about attrition, I do not care how bad my nation might look.]

Answer 1

You can get a naval basing agreement with Norway, if they still own Iceland. This will allow you to dock in any of their territories for repair, and it also 'resets' the attrition.

Basing agreements can be a little pricey, but it sounds like you just want it long enough to transport your army over there and fight a war.

If you have colonists, you can also look to colonize greenland, or at least newfoundland if they're not already owned by someone else. These should be the closest possible colonies so you can shorten the distance you have to sail.

Answer 2

There are ideas that reduce naval attrition, such as in the Naval idea group iirc. Dip tech also reduces it - by the 17th century or so a Western nation should not have troubles in crossing the Atlantic, even without having way-stop colonies along the way.

Answer 3

Get tech level 22 in diplomacy, it eliminates sea attrition

Answer 4

Maneuver rating on admirals/explorers reduces attrition.

Some policies (particularly the ones from Maritime/Naval) can dramatically reduce attrition as can some ideas.

improving dip tech eventually removes it entirely and reduces it's impact at certain levels.

Staying in supply range halves the open-sea penalty, which can be extended via fleet-basing rights, protectorates, or colonies.

ensuring that your ships are just transports will also minimize attrition as galleys and heavys are slower and thus slow down the whole fleet meaning more time en-route. (light ships are the fastest, followed by transports).

If you anticipate battle, move your army before the war starts so that they don't need to be guarded enroute.