Battle of Dogger Bank (1781)

Battle of Dogger Bank
Part of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
The Battle of Dogger Bank, by Thomas Luny. NMM
Date 5 August 1781 Location Dogger Bank, North Sea Coordinates: 54°43′26″N 2°46′08″E / 54.724°N 2.769°E / 54.724; 2.769 Result Tactically indecisive; Strategic British victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	Dutch Republic
Commanders and leaders
Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet	Johan Zoutman
Strength
7 ships of the line	7 ships of the line
Casualties and losses
104 killed, 339 wounded	142 killed, 403 wounded, (Some sources repute as high as 1,100) 1 ship sunk

The Battle of the Dogger Bank was a naval battle that took place on 5 August 1781 during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, contemporaneously related to the American Revolutionary War, in the North Sea. It was a bloody encounter between a British squadron under Vice Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet and a Dutch squadron under Vice Admiral Johan Zoutman, both of which were escorting convoys.

In December 1780, Great Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic, drawing it militarily into the American War of Independence. The Dutch had for many years been supplying the Americans, and shipping French supplies to the Americans, in support of the American war effort. The opening of hostilities with the Dutch meant that Britain's trade with countries on the Baltic Sea (where key supplies of lumber for naval construction were purchased) was potentially at risk, and that the British had to increase protection of their shipping in the North Sea. In order to accomplish this, the British began blockading the Dutch coast to monitor and intercept any significant attempts to send shipping into or out of Dutch ports, and began to protect merchant shipping convoys with armed vessels.

The Dutch were politically in turmoil, and were consequently unable to mount any sort of effective actions against the British. The result of this inaction was the collapse of their economically important trade. It was finally decided that a merchant fleet had to be launched. On 1 August 1781, Admiral Johan Zoutman led a fleet of some 70 merchantmen from the Texel, protected by seven ships of the line as well as a number of frigates and smaller armed vessels.

Admiral Hyde Parker was accompanying a convoy of ships from the Baltic when he spotted the sails of the Dutch fleet at 4am on the morning of 5 August. He immediately despatched his convoy toward the English coast, and ordered his line to give chase rather than prepare for battle. Zoutman, whose ships had been interspersed with the merchantmen, signalled his line to form in between Parker and the convoy.

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