Four Days' Battle

Four Days' Battle
Part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War

The Four Days Battle by Abraham Storck
Date11–14 June 1666 (1666-06-11 – 1666-06-14)
Location
ENE of North Foreland, England[1]
51°24′N 2°0′E / 51.400°N 2.000°E / 51.400; 2.000
Result Dutch victory
Belligerents
 Kingdom of England  Dutch Republic
Commanders and leaders
Strength
79 ships of the line and frigates
21,000 men[2]		 84 ships of the line and frigates[3]
22,000 men[2]
Casualties and losses
20 warships lost[4]
5,000 killed, wounded or captured[4]		 4 warships lost[3]
2,000 killed or wounded[4]

The Four Days' Battle[a] was a naval engagement fought from 11 to 14 June 1666 (1–4 June O.S.) during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. It began off the Flemish coast and ended near the English coast, and remains one of the longest naval battles in history.

The Royal Navy suffered significant damage, losing around twenty ships in total. Casualties, including prisoners, exceeded 5,000 with over 1,000 men killed, including two vice-admirals, Sir Christopher Myngs and Sir William Berkeley. Almost 2,000 were taken prisoner including Vice-admiral George Ayscue.

Dutch losses were four ships destroyed by fire and over 2,000 men killed or wounded, among them Lieutenant Admiral Cornelis Evertsen, Vice Admiral Abraham van der Hulst and Rear Admiral Frederik Stachouwer. Although a clear Dutch victory, the surviving English ships were able to beat off an attempt to destroy them at anchor in the Thames estuary in early July. After quickly refitting, on 25 July the English defeated the Dutch in the St. James's Day Battle.

  1. ^ Fox, Frank L. (16 July 2009). The Four Days' Battle of 1666: The Greatest Sea Fight of the Age of Sail. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78346-963-5.
  2. ^ a b Bodart 1908, p. 793.
  3. ^ a b Palmer 1997, p. 138.
  4. ^ a b c Prud'homme van Reine 2009, p. 171.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).