The problem is that the US by this time has already spread from Maine to Florida to California to Washington State, is the second largest economy in the world, is 3,000 miles away from Europe, has a population of millions and is totally connected by rail. They will be able to blockade the US at great cost but landing troops is suicide.
Yeah, defending Canada is about it. The point is mainly that there's time for the British to entrench in Canada, and then the blockade can bite.
In the 1880s, the US navy was... crap.
Let's use 1888.
Armoured Cruisers:
None. (the UK has twelve.)
Protected Cruisers:
Atlanta (2 8", 6 6", no armoured belt but 2" barbettes)
Boston (2 8", 6 6", no armoured belt but 2" barbettes)
Chicago (4 8", 8 6", 2 5", no armoured belt but 2" barbettes)
Vesuvius (commissioned 1890) (3 15" pneumatic guns, essentially a monitor)
(The RN has over thirty.)
Battleships:
None. (See below for a subset of UK.)
Torpedo boats:
None. (the RN has at least a dozen.)
Dispatch vessel:
USS Dolphin (1 6").
Sloop of war:
Mohican and Galena (1883 and 1880)
Wooden ship with 1 9" and 8 8"
Carry-overs from pre-1882:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_Navy#cite_note-Swann141142-74
By the time the
Garfield administration assumed office in 1881, the Navy's condition had deteriorated still further. A review conducted on behalf of the new Secretary of the Navy,
William H. Hunt, found that of 140 vessels on the Navy's active list, only 52 were in an operational state, of which a mere 17 were iron-hulled ships, including 14 aging Civil War era ironclads. Hunt recognized the necessity of modernizing the Navy, and set up an informal advisory board to make recommendations.
Basically, fuck-all that could stand up in a serious fight.
By comparison, RN battlefleet
built since 1870:
Seagoing
Iron Duke (10 9", 4 6", 6" armour minimum belt)
2 Swiftsure (10 9", 4 6", 6" armour minimum belt)
Sultan (8 10", 4 9", 6" armour minimum belt)
2 Devastation (turret ships) (4 12", minimum belt thickness 8.5" iron with 16" teak backing)
Alexandra (2 11", 10 10", 12-6" belt)
Temeraire (4 11", 4 10", 11-5.5" belt)
Superb (16 10", 4 torpedo tubes, 12-7" belt)
Neptune (4 12.5" 2 9", 2 torpedo tubes, 12-9" belt)
Dreadnought (4 12.5", machine guns, 14-8" belt)
Inflexible (4 16", 4 torpedo tubes, 24" belt(!!))
2 Ajax (4 12.5", 2 6", 18" citadel)
2 Colossus (4 12", 5 6", 2 tubes, 14-18" citadel)
6 Admiral (4 12" or 2 16.25" or 4 13.5", 6 6" or 10 6", belt 18-8")
Coastal
Abyssinia (4 10", 4 8", belt 7")
Hotspur (BIG RAM, 2 12", 2 6", belt 11-8")
Glatton (2 12", belt 12-10")
4 Cyclops (4 10", belt 8-6")
Rupert (BIG RAM, 2 10", 2 6", 4 torpedo tubes, belt 11-9")
2 Belleisle (4 12", 2 torpedo carriages, belt 6-12")
2 Conqueror (2 12", 4 6", 5 torpedo tubes, 12-8" belt)
Conclusion:
The USN is fucked. Completely fucked. The entire useful navy only outnumbers the
modern RN battleships about two to one.
In other words... rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves.