Anglo-Dutch Wars, Fleet Review - The Dutch Fleet.

 

It would seem from the responses I and Capt. Steve had to the first post in this Anglo-Dutch Wars fleet review, looking at Steve's English fleet, that I'm not the only one fascinated by this early period of fleet actions in the age of sail and if you missed that first post you can look back to it in the link below.

JJ's Wargames - Anglo Dutch Wars Fleet Review, The English Fleet

In this post our attention turns to the Dutch fleet, circa 1666, with a similar order of battle as illustrated at our look at the English, showing the three Dutch battle squadrons and their respective support vessels.

The Dutch were divided into the First or Centre, Second (van) and Third squadrons. The Centre flew their pennants from the main, the Second from the fore and the Third from the mizzen. 

Dutch Fleet Order of Battle

Within this structure are the five Admiralties which insisted on having three admirals each (lieutenant-admiral, vice-admiral and shout bij nacht) - so fifteen flag officers plus de Ruyter as commander in chief.

All flag officers flew the Dutch tricolour or Princes Flag as their command flag.

The Second Squadron

First up is the Second Squadron whose van division seen below, nearest to camera, was composed of ships from Frisia. They flew the Princes flag as both their ensign and jack.

The five ships of the van of the Second Squadron, closest to camera are from right to left: Groot Frisia, Elf Steven, Groningen, Princes Albertina and Prins Hendrik Casimir.

The five are from right to left: Groot Frisia, Elf Steven, Groningen, Princes Albertina and Prins Hendrik Casimir.

Detail of a Dutch man of war stern gallery from Two Small Vessels and a Dutch Man-of-War in a Breeze by Willem van de Velde, The National Gallery.
Willem van de Velde was the leading Dutch marine painter of the later seventeenth century. The warship bears the arms of the Province of Holland – the national arms in the colours used before 1663 – and a Dutch flag flies at the stern.

Unlike the English ships who sterns are, with a few exceptions uniform with just the Royal Arms, most Dutch sterns were unique and portrayed the ship’s name. Using Van de Velde’s contemporary ship portraits, I had the sterns portrayed in the models. Close ups to follow.

The rest of the Squadron was made up of the Zealand Squadron, which flew their pennants Princes flag as their ensign and the Vlissingen Jack (red with a white vase). Their ships sterns all had the Zealand arms, and below we can see the Zierikzee, Walcheren and Vlissingen.

The Zierikzee, Walcheren and Vlissingen of the Second Squadron.

Lastly, the Second Squadron is completed with the  Kampvere, Tholen and Middleburg

The fourth-rate 50-gun Kampvere, third-rate Tholen of 60-guns and the 50-gun Middleburg complete the Second Squadron.

The First (Centre) Squadron

The Centre Squadron was most composed of ships from the Maas (Rotterdam) admirably and flew their pennants Princes same flags as the Frisians, except their pennants were at the main and not the fore.

The van division is Groot Hollandia, Eendracht and Joshua. The Eendracht is the only ship not to fly a pennant, to avoid her being mistaken for de Ruyter.

The van division of the Centre Squadron is Groot Hollandia, the 76-gun second-rate Eendracht and Joshua.

The centre division is Delft, Zeven Provincian, Provincie Utrecht and Vrede. The flagship flies their pennants Princes command pennant under the Princes flag to identify de Ruyter as c-in-c.

Michiel de Ruyter welcomes the young Prince of Orange onboard his flagship the Zeven Provinciën -Maarten Platje.
https://maartenplatje.com/product/art-print-michiel-de-ruyter-welcomes-the-young-prince-of-orange-onboard-his-flagship-the-zeven-provincien/

They are accompanied by a frigate, a pinnacle and states yacht.

The centre division is (left to right) Delft, the 80-gun flagship of de Ruyter, Zeven Provincian, Provincie Utrecht and Vrede. Alongside them and nearest to camera, a frigate, a pinnacle and states yacht.

Lastly the rear: Wassenear, Ridderschap van Holland and Dordrecht.

The rear of the Centre Squadron: Wassenear, Ridderschap van Holland and Dordrecht.

The Third Squadron

Now the Third Squadron, whose van was composed of ships from the Norderkwatier admiralty who flew a Princes Jack and the nine striped Triple Prince as an ensign. Here is Pacificatie, Westfriesland, Norderkwatier and Maagd van Enkhuisen.

The van of the Third Squadron: Pacificatie, Westfriesland, Norderkwatier and Maagd van Enkhuisen.

The centre was from the Amsterdam admiralty who flew Triple Prince jacks and ensigns: Beschermer, Hollandia and Gouda. 

The centre from the Amsterdam admiralty flying Triple Prince jacks and ensigns: Beschermer, Hollandia and Gouda. 

Completing the Third Squadron is the rear division, also from Amsterdam: Haarlem, Speigel and Huis Tiverdrift.

The rear was also from Amsterdam: Haarlem, Speigel and Huis Tiverdrift.

And lastly, a Dutch convoy of fluyts and coastal craft, escorted by a 48 gun warship.

A Dutch convoy of fluyts and coastal craft, escorted by a 48 gun warship.

And a wrecked Dutch warship and and a sunken vessel for those scattered units that would otherwise be removed from the table. 

To quote Steve "I do like a war game table to look good!" - To which I say "Hear hear!"

A wrecked Dutch warship and and a sunken vessel.

Finally some close ups of the Dutch sterns. Dordrecht on left, a Zealand ship on the right, and an unidentified ship in the centre because Steve couldn't remember!! (I love this attention to detail).

A selection of Dutch stern galleries. Dordrecht on left, a Zealand ship on the right, and an unidentified ship in the centre

Speaking of attention to detail, you might have noticed the glorious coastal scenery in the background of the two fleet reviews, with long low lying sandy stetches of beaches and dunes designed to capture the look of the Dutch or East Anglian coastline for those actions fought close to shore.

More Anglo-Dutch Wars to come as Steve sets out to refight the opening stage of the Battle of Lowestoft as Vice-Admiral Christopher Myngs leads the White Squadron as he attempts to gain the weather gauge over the Dutch.

The Battle of Lowestoft, 3rd June 1665 - Hendrik van Minderhout

As always, more anon.

JJ