| Summary : The Battle of Lowestoft took place on 3 June 1665, opening the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667) and pitting the English fleet under James Stuart, Duke of York, against the Dutch fleet, led by Jacob van Wassenaer van Obdam. The date of the battle is recorded in Dutch sources as 13 June 1665, owing to the English retention of the Julian or Old Style calendar. The two fleets first encountered one another approximately 40 miles SE of Lowestoft, a position east of the Outer Gabbard: the Dutch ESE of the English, who had issued out of their anchorage at Solebay. The battle ranged in a north-westerly to south-easterly direction as the two fleets passed and re-passed each other, so will have ranged for several miles. The battle was characterised by the use of hired East Indiamen among the Dutch fleet and by two similar incidents in which the English sent fireships among Dutch vessels entangled with each other. The DOLPHIN (1364465) fired the MAARSSEVEEN (1364479), TER GOES (1364484) and ZWANENBURG (1364508) on her commander's own initiative after they had surrendered, to great disapprobation; however, the FAME (1364511) was sent to fire the KOEVORDEN (1364512), PRINS MAURITS (1364514) and STAD UTRECHT (1364516) which were similarly entangled but had not surrendered. The ORANJE (1364482), another hired East Indiaman, caught fire after a stout defence, but the principal event of the battle was the sudden explosion of the EENDRACHT (1363153), which killed Obdam. The battle of Lowestoft was followed in the Second Anglo-Dutch War by the Four Days' Battle (1583919) and St. James's Day Fight (1584743) in 1666; and the Raid on the Medway (1584349), the actions of Landguard Fort (1584112) the Hope (1584207) and Sheppey (1584293) in summer 1667. The position of the battle as recorded here is for representational purposes only, based on an approximate half-way point along the notional line bearing 40 miles SE of Lowestoft, and is not to be taken as conclusive. |