Sea battle at Plymouth
Main battles of the war
| date | August 26, 1652 |
|---|---|
| place | English Channel at Plymouth |
| output | Victory of the Dutch |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 31 ships, 60 merchant ships (convoy) |
47 ships |
| losses | |
|
60 dead, 50 wounded |
700 dead and wounded, |
Dover - Plymouth - Elba - Kentish Knock - Dungeness - Portland - Livorno - Gabbard - Scheveningen
In the naval battle of Plymouth in the First Anglo-Dutch War on August 26, 1652, (on August 16, 1652 according to the Julian calendar used in England) the fleet of the United Provinces of the Netherlands under Michiel de Ruyter won a victory over the fleet of the Commonwealth of England under George Ayscue .
prehistory
De Ruyter had commanded a flotilla in 1641, helping Portugal when he was appointed deputy commander of the Dutch fleet on July 29, 1642. Now, in the absence of Vice Admiral Witte de With , he commanded an association that was supposed to protect a large trade convoy.
Since not all ships were ready, de Ruyter set sail with 23 warships and six fires to search for the Ayscues fleet (40 ships). The Dutch ships with a total of 600 cannons were in poor condition and the 1700 crew was poorly trained. In the English Channel , De Ruyter encountered Ayscue, who avoided a fight. To provoke the English, he cruised off the coast of Sussex and caused an uproar among the local people. Ayscue waited, however, even though his fleet had grown to 42 ships. Meanwhile, de Ruyter lost two ships in a collision when they escorted a merchant to the mouth of the Somme .
In the meantime the Dutch trade convoy had left and ten more warships accompanied him. De Ruyter met him off Gravelines in the southern North Sea and was supposed to protect him on his way to the Atlantic. Most of the merchant ships and the ten escort ships were destined for the Mediterranean, while De Ruyter's warships were supposed to wait in the Atlantic for merchants from the West Indies. The fleet reached the canal on August 23.
The battle
The English fleet consisted of 47 ships: 38 warships and armed merchant ships, five incendiary ships, four smaller ships. The Dutch fleet comprised the original 21 warships, 10 additional escort ships and 60 merchant ships. The Frisian Admiral Joris Pieterszoon van den Broeck commanded the rearguard, De Ruyter the center and the Dutch Admiral Jan Aertsen Verhoeff the vanguard.
On August 25, the English discovered the Dutch convoy off Plymouth . The next day Ayscue attempted a direct attack from the north, with the advantage of the better wind, but De Ruyter changed course and the Dutch warships opposed the English to protect the merchant ships. The English ships were more heavily armed, but in bad order: in expectation of easy prey, the fast ships had gone far ahead and left their formation. They could no longer form a battle line or take advantage of the superiority of their firepower. The Dutch heading northwest held a line of defense downwind.
At around 4 p.m. the Dutch fleet met the foremost English ships and both parties immediately opened fire. The Dutch managed to sit north of the English ships, they turned and attacked again. The battle was divided into individual skirmishes in which the strongest of the English ships were surrounded by numerous Dutch ships. The slower remainder of the English fleet, manned by poorly trained crews, only now reached the battle.
The largest Dutch ship, the Vogelstruys of the Dutch East India Company , armed with 18 pounders, was separated from the rest of their fleet, attacked by three English ships and boarded. The crew wanted to surrender, but the Frisian captain Douwe Aukes threatened to blow up the ship beforehand. In the face of this threat, the men regained their positions, forced the boarding party from board and put the English ships to flight.
The Dutch followed their tried and tested tactics and shot chain balls at the mast and rigging, rendering the enemy ships unable to maneuver. Towards evening Ayscue broke off the fight and withdrew towards Plymouth. Both sides suffered great losses: the Dutch had 60 dead and 50 wounded, the British 700 dead and wounded, and they lost an incendiary ship.
De Ruyter was chasing the English fleet and the next morning the two fleets were still close to each other. De Ruyter hoped to catch a few stragglers. Some English ships were towed and should have been abandoned in an attack. But Ayscue managed to bring his entire squadron back to Plymouth .
De Ruyter appointed two warships to accompany the merchant fleet through the channel into the Atlantic. But he rejected his plan to attack the anchored enemy fleet, and when he learned that Admiral Robert Blake was heading west with a superior fleet of 72 ships, he withdrew to the Atlantic, collected and escorted twelve arriving merchants from the West Indies in September them safely in the canal. They reached Calais on October 2nd and De Ruyter's ships had run out of supplies, eight or nine ships in need of repair. Blake, meanwhile, had to take shelter in Torbay from a storm .
consequences
Ascuye lost his command after the defeat, possibly also for political reasons, as he sympathized with the royalist party of the civil war.
The greed for booty was a widespread attitude among the English, to which naval discipline was still subordinate in the first year of the war. It was not until the naval battle at Gabbard that they tried to gain military superiority at sea.
The Dutch people celebrated De Ruyter as a sea hero. For him, the win was an important step in his career. He was nicknamed the sea lion . Before he returned home, he took part in the sea battle at Kentish Knock . When he arrived in Middelburg , he received a gold chain of honor and 100 Flemish pounds for both battles: for “manly courage” in the first and for “courageous caution” in the second when he convinced Witte de With to withdraw in time.
Ships involved
There is no complete list, especially of the English ships. The Dutch units include the 23 original warships and six fire engines that De Ruyter von Wielingen set out with.
United Provinces (De Ruyter)
| United Provinces (De Ruyter) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ship | Ship type / Admiralty | Cannons | captain |
| Vogelstruys | VOC ship | 40 | Douwe Aukes |
| Vrede | VOC ship | 40 | Pieter Salomonszoon |
| Haes in 't Veldt | Ship from Zealand | 30th | Empties the Haen |
| Sint Nicolaes | Admiralty of Friesland sunk on the Somme |
23 | Andries van den Boeckhorst |
| Liefde | Admiralty of Zealand | 26th | Joost Banckert de Jonge |
| Little Neptunis | VOC | 40 | Pieter Salomonszoon |
| Haes in 't Veldt | Ship from Zealand | 28 | Michiel de Ruyter, Captain Jan Pauwelszoon |
| Albertina | Admiralty of Friesland | 24 | Rombout van der Parre |
| Sint Pieter | Admiralty of the Meuse | 28 | Jan Janszoon van der Valck |
| Westergo | Admiralty of Friesland Second ship in command |
28 | Joris Pieterszoon van den Broecke |
| Angel Michiel | Admiralty of Amsterdam | 40 | Emmanuel Zalingen |
| Drie Coningen | Admiralty of Amsterdam | 38 | Lucas Albertszoon |
| Gelderland | Damaged Admiralty of the Meuse on the Somme |
28 | Cornelis van Velsen |
| Graaf Hendrik | Admiralty of Friesland | 30th | Jan Renderszoon Wagenaer |
| Wapen van Swieten | Ship from Zealand | 28 | Jacob Sichelszoon |
| Kasteel van Medemblick | Admiralty of the North | 26th | Gabriel Antheunissen |
| West chapel | Ship from Zealand | 26th | Cleas Janszoon Sanger |
| Eendraght | Admiralty of the Meuse | 24 | Andries Fortuijn |
| Amsterdam | Admiralty of Amsterdam | 36 | Simon van der Aeck |
| Faems | Ship from Zealand | 36 | Cornelis Loncke |
| Schaepherder | Admiralty of Friesland | 28 | Albert Pieterszoon Quaboer |
| Sarah | Admiralty of Friesland | 24 | Hans Karelszoon Becke |
| Hector van Troye | Admiralty of Friesland | 24 | Reinier Sekema |
| Rotterdam | Admiralty von der Maas Third ship in command |
26th | Jan Arentsen Verhaeff |
| Hoop | Brander, Admiralty of Amsterdam | Thomas Janszoon Dijck | |
| Amsterdam | Fire | Jan Overbeecke | |
| Gekroonde Liefde | Brander, ship from Zealand | Jacob Herman Visser | |
| Orangie boom | Brander, Admiralty of Amsterdam | Leendert Arendszoon de Jager | |
| Sin Maria | Brander, Admiralty of Amsterdam | Jan Cleaszoon Corff | |
| Goude Saele | Brander, Admiralty of Amsterdam | Cornelis Beecke | |
England (George Ayscue)
| England (George Ayscue) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ship | Ship type | Cannons | captain |
| George | flagship | 52 | |
| Amity | 36 | Admiral Michael Pack | |
| Success | Merchant ship | 30th | |
| Ruth | Merchant ship | 30th | |
| Brazil frigate | Merchant ship | 24 | |
| Malaga Merchant | Merchant ship | 30th | |
| Increase | Merchant ship | 36 | Thomas Varvell |
| Vanguard | 46 | Vice Admiral William Haddock | |
| Success | 36 | William Kendall | |
| Pelican | 42 | Joseph Jordan | |
| Pearl * | 24 | Roger Cuttance | |
| John and Elizabeth * | Merchant ship | 26th | |
| George Bonaventure * | Merchant ship | 20th | John Crampe |
| Anthony Bonaventure | Merchant ship | 36 | Walter Hoxon |
| Unity | Merchant ship | ||
| Maidenhead | Merchant ship | 36 | |
| Constant Anne | Ketch | ||
| Bachelor | Ketch | ||
| Charity | Fire | Simon Orton - Resigned | |
Ships marked with * are unsafe