Battle of Scheveningen

The battles of Scheveningen ( battles of For the third time Heijde , sometimes also called battles of Texel ) was held from August 8th to 10th 1653. It was the last battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War, it joined together the fleet of the the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces.

It should be distinguished from the Bataille of Texel which was held 20 years later, from August 10th to 21st 1673, which Dutch also calls (close Scheveningen) and that English off calls sometimes also Battle Scheveningen .

Context

After the victory of the English to the Battle of Gabbard in June 1653, the fleet of Monck made up of 120 ships blocked the Dutch coast, thus capturing several tradind ships. The economy of the United Provinces started at once to crumble, the country was sudden in prey with an massive unemployment and even with the famine. August 3rd, the vice-admiral Maarten Tromp took the sea on board the Brederode and accompanied by a fleet of 100 ships in order to break the blockade of the island of Texel, where the 27 ships of the vice-admiral Witte de With were locked up. August 8th, the English saw the fleet Dutchwoman of Tromp and moved towards the south, thus allowing the admiral De Witt to escape and join Tromp the next day in front of Scheveningen, after this one positioned in the north of the English fleet by a brilliant operation.

The battle

The English caught up with the Dutch fleet combined with the surrounding of August 10th and attacked it. The battle made rage, the two fleets meeting by four times. The Tromp vice-admiral was killed at the beginning of the combat by a marksman aboard ship William PEN . Its death was kept secret in the intention to maintain the moral one of the Dutchmen, but at the end of the afternoon twelve their boats had already been run or captured and several others were damaged too much to continue the combat. At the end, the moral one was with lowest and a great number of vessels under the orders of captains of going ships fled towards north. The vice-admiral De Witt tried to prevent them but had to stop to cover the retirement towards Texel. However, the English fleet, it also very damaged and having to look after a great number of casualties, had to turn over to the port to re-equip themselves and be able to maintain the blockade.

Consequences

Curiously the two sides protested their victory:

the English because of their tactical superiority
the Dutchmen because their strategic goal which was to raise the blockade was reached.

The death of the vice-admiral Maarten Tromp was an hard blow for the United Provinces. Not very many was those which still hoped to beat the England; the faction orangist lost influence and the Large-boarder Johan de Witt was laid out to give to Cromwell, the insurance that William III of Orange-Nassau will not reach the function of general Stathouder, thus preparing the ground for the English Restauration. Negotiations were started and led to the treated of Westminster in 1654.

Sources

Battle of Scheveningen

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