Battle of St. James Day

St James' Day Battle
Part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War
Engraving showing the St. James Day battle August 4th, 1666 between English and Dutch Ships
Date 25 July (Julian calendar) or 4 August (Gregorian calendar), 1666 Location near North Foreland, England Result English Victory
Belligerents
England	Dutch Republic
Commanders and leaders
Prince Rupert of the Rhine and George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle	Michiel de Ruyter
Strength
90 ships, plus 16 fireships	89 ships, plus 20 fireships and 9 yachts
Casualties and losses
1 English ship (Resolution) sunk, ca 300 killed	2 Dutch ships (Sneek and Tholen) taken, ca 800 killed

Coordinates: 51°22′01″N 1°36′00″E / 51.367°N 1.600°E / 51.367; 1.600

The naval St James' Day Battle (also known as the St James' Day Fight), the Battle of the North Foreland and the Battle of Orfordness) took place on 25 July 1666 — St James' day in the Julian calendar then in use in England (4 August 1666 in the Gregorian calendar), during the Second Anglo-Dutch War and was fought between fleets of England, commanded jointly by Prince Rupert of the Rhine and George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, and the United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. In the Netherlands, the battle is known as the Two Days' Battle.

After the Dutch had inflicted considerable damage on the English fleet in the Four Days Battle, the leading Dutch politician, Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt, ordered Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter to carry out a plan that had been prepared for over a year: to land in the Medway to destroy the English fleet while it was being repaired in the Chatham dockyards. For this purpose, ten fluyt ships carried 2,700 marines of the newly created Dutch Marine Corps, one of the first in history to be specialised in amphibious landings. Also, De Ruyter was to combine his fleet with the French one.

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Wikipedia