, 1652 In the early 17th century, the States fleet was reinforced with armed merchant ships, reflecting the Republic’s reliance on commercial resources for naval warfare. The introduction of line tactics made agility, uniform sailing capacity, speed, and standardization of vessels increasingly important. In 1653, the States-General, on the initiative of
Johan de Witt, ordered the construction of sixty ships, built for the war with England.
Johan de Witt, the
councilor pensionary of Holland and leading statesman of the Republic, coordinated closely with
Michiel de Ruyter, who commanded the fleet on behalf of the States-General, and the Amsterdam merchant and member of the Admiralty College David Wildt, who was responsible for financing the construction. In the 1660s, a second series of sixty ships was commissioned, forming a large standing war fleet of roughly one hundred vessels, including ships of the line, frigates, and lighter vessels. The largest ships, such as the , including the flagship
Seven Provinces (
De Zeven Provinciën), were equipped with 80 to 96 guns. The navy typically maintained about three to four thousand seamen in peacetime, but when war threatened, thousands more sailors were mustered for single campaigns. Recruitment was overseen by flag officers and captains, while a small number of experienced permanent officers—known as
extraordinary captains—were salaried and responsible for victualing the fleet. Each ship’s captain purchased supplies from the extraordinary captains at a subsidized discount provided by the Admiralties. The income amounted to the main income of the extradordinary captains.. The sailors were drawn largely from the proletariat and the multinational populations of the Dutch port cities. In 1665, a regiment of soldiers aboard the ships was instituted under Baron
Willem Joseph van Ghent, forming the nucleus of what would later become the
Netherlands Marine Corps.
Strategic Mission During the 17th century, the Dutch Republic was involved in numerous naval operations, primarily aimed at keeping trade routes open and defending its territory. Until 1648, Spain remained the main adversary. In 1607, a States fleet destroyed the entire Spanish fleet at the
Battle of Gibraltar, significantly weakening Spanish naval power. Partly as a result of this defeat, peace negotiations launched in 1609 led to the
Twelve Years' Truce. The
Battle of the Downs in 1639, in which Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp and Vice-Admiral Witte de With defeated a Spanish armada of 55 ships (the Second Spanish Armada), effectively ended Spanish maritime dominance. In addition to combat operations, the fleet regularly blockaded the Flemish coast and escorted merchant convoys to the Baltic Sea. Close relations between the Dutch and Swedes angered the Danes, as many Dutch merchants had settled in Sweden and controlled significant portions of trade and industry. One prominent figure was
Louis de Geer. In 1644, the Dutch provided Sweden with 23 ships, fully manned, to assist in the occupation of Fehmarn. In response, Denmark had banned the export of timber from Norway in 1640, prompting a Dutch-Swedish campaign against the Danes to protect access to the Baltic. Witte de With commanded the
Brederode with a large convoy, successfully navigating the Sound in 1644–1645 and forcing a favorable toll agreement for Dutch merchants.
Anglo-Dutch Wars See:
First Anglo-Dutch War,
Second Anglo-Dutch War,
Third Anglo-Dutch War,
Glorious Revolution,
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War , 10 August 1653'' by
Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraaten, painted c. 1654, depicts the final battle of the
First Anglo-Dutch War. During the 17th century, Dutch maritime expansion led to increased tensions with their European neighbors, in particular the
Kingdom of England. Besides the Baltic trade, there was an increasing focus on importing luxury goods from Asia. The Dutch textile industry increasingly refined wool imported from England. In 1614, while serving as governor of the
Eastland Company, English merchant
William Cockayne initiated a plan to refine wool produced in England and sell it in Dutch markets. However, the Dutch refused to purchase finished cloth and instead engaged in a trade war with England. As a result, the English cloth trade was depressed for decades. After the
Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the Dutch also started to displace English trade with the
Iberian Peninsula, leading to a further breakdown in Anglo-Dutch relations. The Netherlands had a huge merchant fleet (with more ships than all other countries in Europe combined) and now had a dominant position in the European market in general, and the Baltic trade in particular. They had further conquered most of the Portuguese territories in the East Indies, creating a monopoly in the highly profitable spice trade, and acquired more and more influence on maritime trade between England and its American colonies. Under the English
Navigation Acts, vessels flying the Dutch flag were denied access to English ports if they carried goods not originating in the Netherlands. Because this constituted the lion's share of Dutch trade with English ports, these acts undermined the commercial position of the Netherlands. This rivalry led to the
Anglo-Dutch Wars. During the
First Anglo-Dutch War, English fleet operations were aimed primarily at Dutch merchantmen to obstruct free passage. One example was the
Battle of Dungeness in December 1652, in which Maarten Tromp managed to keep the Channel open to Dutch shipping. The
Battle of Livorno in 1653, under Commander
Johan van Galen, saw the Dutch prevail in the Mediterranean Sea, greatly disrupting English trade with the Levant. In the
Second Anglo-Dutch War, five major naval actions took place, almost all off the English coast. In 1667, the Dutch under Michiel de Ruyter undertook a
Raid on the Medway. , 11–14 June 1666
(Abraham Storck) depicts a battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In the foreground the Swiftsure with Admiral Berkeley surrenders. On the right the grounded Prince Royal
with Admiral George Ayscue surrenders by releasing white smoke; De Ruyter on the De Zeven Provinciën accepts. In between the Royal Charles'' can just be seen with a broken mast. The
Third Anglo-Dutch War was part of the
Franco-Dutch War. In 1674, England,
France,
Cologne and
Münster declared war on the Dutch Republic. Facing large Anglo-French numerical superiority at sea, the Dutch fleet was soon on the defensive. De Ruyter, however, held the enemy off from the Dutch coast. The conclusion of the
Treaty of Westminster brought an end to the trade wars between the rival navies. After Stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau was proclaimed king of England in the
Glorious Revolution, the Dutch and English fought as allies against France in the
Nine Years' War and
War of the Spanish Succession. Naval operations shifted from the North Sea and the English Channel to the French coast and the Mediterranean, where the Dutch fleet sailed against the squadrons of
Louis XIV and the
Barbary pirates. == Downturn ==