The Battle of Portland (a.k.a. The Three Days' Battle), 18th - 20th February 1653, Game Plan and Preparation - General at Sea

 

In the previous post in this series by Captain Steve, he recounted the situation that led up to the Battle of Dungeness in November 1652, and a refight of the battle using the rules General at Sea by Ian Stanford, link below.

JJ's Wargames: The Battle of Dungeness, 30th November 1652 - General at Sea.

In this post Steve picks up the narrative as the Tromp/Blake duel carried on into 1653 with another major clash around a Dutch convoy attempting to navigate the English Channel, and his plan to refight The Three Days' Battle of Portland.

The Dutch victory at the battle of Dungeness in November 1652 left the the Dutch navy in control of the Channel through the winter of 1652-3 and allowed a revival of trade and commerce, but by early February 1653, the English fleet had been refitted and reorganised; and around eighty ships put to sea on 11th February under the joint command of the generals-at-sea Robert Blake, George Monck and Richard Deane to intercept Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp, who was expected to escort a large merchant fleet homeward-bound from the Mediterranean.

Steve's order of battle for the Dutch Fleet at Portland.
This is the biggest of the battles staged so far and we can expect to see a lot of lovely models, thirty-nine precisely, out on the table for this one.

Following Dungeness, the English had reorganised their Navy. The fleet was now divided into three squadrons – Red (Centre), White (Van) and Blue (Rear). Generals at Sea Deane and Monck were sent to support Blake. 

General at Sea George Monck

Monck (in his very first action at sea) was given command of the White (Van) and amused his seamen with such land-lubber orders as “Wheel to the Right”. However, he was a very quick learner as events will prove. 

General at Sea Richard Deane

Deane was a gunnery expert, having commanded the New Model Army’s artillery and unusually held joint command with Blake, rather than command the Blue (Rear), which was given to Penn. 

Tromp's fleet of seventy-five warships rendezvoused with the 150 ships of the Mediterranean convoy at La Rochelle early in January 1653. Tromp hoped to sail home through the Channel before the English fleet was ready to put to sea, but stragglers and adverse weather conditions delayed him. The Dutch convoy finally reached the mouth of the Channel on 16th February. 

Steve's order of battle for the Dutch Fleet at Portland

The English generals planned to attack Tromp in the deeper waters of the western Channel, where the Dutch fleet was far from home and could not salvage damaged ships easily. However, the width of the Channel at its western end meant that the English fleet had to cover a wider area in order to ensure that the Dutch did not slip past.

Blake was determined not to let Tromp evade him, as de Ruyter did the previous year, and spread his fleet across the Channel in the hope of making contact. When they did, off Portland Bill, the English were widely dispersed: Blake and Dean had about 20 ships with them, the rest of the Red Squadron were some way astern and down wind. 

The battle setup for Portland on Day 1.
See the orders of battle above for details of the respective divisions.

The Blue squadron was some way ahead, whilst the White was several miles to the south and would have to tack in order to reach the rest of the fleet.

Seeing the English dispersed and Blake isolated, Tromp seized the opportunity to destroy him before the other English squadrons could come to his rescue and accordingly ordered all four of his squadrons to turn down wind and charge Blake. Blake turned into the wind, hove to in line, and awaited the onslaught in what one historian termed “the Balaclava of the sea.”

Steve's 'Collection Plate' with a wonderful depiction by Mark Myers of Blake meeting the charge of the Dutch fleet in line ahead. 

Penn reacted by turning into the wind and tacking in order to attack the nearest Dutch squadron, which was de Ruyter’s. Lawson decided not to attack up wind in Blake’s aid and be overwhelmed. Instead, he made the risky move of passing Blake to the south and then tacking, following Penn into action. Monck began to tack northwards, but it would take many hours before he could join in.

One of the maps from Three Decks illustrating the previously thought arrangement of the Dutch Fleet at the Battle of Portland
Battle of Portland, 18th February 1652/53 - 20th February 1652/53

There is some dispute over the Dutch squadrons. Traditionally, only three were shown with de Ruyter to port of Tromp and Evertsen to starboard (the two maps in the Three Decks page). Modern research now has de Ruyter and Floriszoon to starboard of Tromp and Evertsen to port, as shown below:

This is a most interesting fight. Like Dungeness, it involved three of the most celebrated admirals in history – Tromp, de Ruyter and Blake. Also, the defence of Blake’s small group of ships against the Dutch is considered by some historians as being the crucial event that convinced the English Generals at Sea to introduce the line of battle, which they used for the first time in the next battle, the Gabbard.

In the next post Steve refights The Three Days' Battle of Portland.

As always, more anon.

JJ