Battle of Solebay

In the Battle of Solebay, the first naval battle of the Third English- Dutch War, met on 28 Maijul. / June 7 1672greg. the fleet of the United Provinces of the Netherlands to the combined fleets of the Commonwealth of England and the Kingdom of France in the North Sea off the east coast of England.

Solebay - First Schooneveld - Second Schooneveld - Texel

The Battle

The Dutch fleet under Admiral Michiel de Ruyter lieutenants, Adriaen and Willem Joseph van Ghent Banckert consisted of 75 ships, over 20,000 crew members and nearly 4,500 guns. The Anglo - French fleet, 93 ships, nearly 35,000 men and over 6,000 guns, anchored in the Solebay, near Southwold in Suffolk on the east coast of England.

The Dutch fleet surprised the at anchor and attacked in broad formation at. The French, who formed the vanguard, led to only slight skirmishes with parts of the Dutch vanguard. The mass of the Dutch fleet attacked the British. The battle lasted until the evening and both sides suffered heavy losses.

The Dutch were able to avert the impending blockade of their coast. In the First Battle of Schooneveld both parties clashed again.

Comments

In 2007, the Royal James, the decline in the battle flagship of the English, discovered by wreck divers.