Battle of Lowestoft

Battle of Lowestoft
Part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Battle of Lowestoft, Adriaen Van Diest
Date 13 June 1665 Location Off Lowestoft, English Channel 52°03′N 2°24′E / 52.05°N 2.40°E / 52.05; 2.40 Result English victory[1]
Belligerents
England	Dutch Republic
Commanders and leaders
Prince Rupert Duke of York Earl of Sandwich	Jacob Obdam † Johan Evertsen Cornelis Tromp
Strength
109 warships 4,542 guns 22,055 men	103 warships 4,869 guns 21,613 men
Casualties and losses
500 killed and wounded 1 warship captured	2,500 killed and wounded 2,000 captured 3 warships sunk 5 warships destroyed 9 warships captured

The Battle of Lowestoft took place on 13 June [O.S. 3 June] 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. A fleet of more than a hundred ships of the United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer, Lord Obdam, attacked a British fleet of equal size commanded by James, Duke of York, forty miles east of the port of Lowestoft in Suffolk.

Although it was a substantial English victory, the escape of the bulk of the Dutch fleet deprived England of the chance of ending the war quickly with a single decisive victory. As a result, the Dutch were able to make good their losses by building new and better-armed ships and improving their organisation and discipline. Their Dutch fleets would not be so badly organised or ill-disciplined in the remaining battles of this war and, in Obdam's replacement, Michiel de Ruyter, the Dutch had gained a superb tactician and leader for the remainder of the war.