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 an English 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.