The Battle of Lowestoft 13th June 1665 (A Scenario Based on the Opening Moves) - General at Sea

The Battle of Lowestoft 1665 - Jan de Quelery
https://www.quelery.nl/Q/works/The-Battle-of-Lowestoft-1665

The Anglo-Dutch Wars sees the first tactical developments of a fixed order of battle to be imposed on conservative captains, with English admirals well aware of the evil of allowing a battle to degenerate into a series of private duels and detached skirmishes, and the temptation among their commanders to acquire glory by boarding and taking an enemy ship, knowing too well the nature of their gentlemen captains and captains of hired merchantmen, only too anxious to make private captures.

Apart from the size of the fleets involved making the maintenance of cohesion particularly difficult, if the enemy fleet started to shed small groups here and there through disablement, inefficiency or faint heartedness, or as part of a ruse de guerre, common sense demanded complete concentration of the main force so as to take, sink or disable as many enemy ships as possible, including the flagship of the commander-in-chief.

There really are not many helpful comparisons with this early era of age of sail naval warfare with that of the far smaller and more highly trained fleets of Nelson's time and thus makes the gaming of these early battles a very interesting intellectual challenge for the gamer handling similar issues faced by the respective commanders. 

In 'Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail' by Brian Tunstall, the author, poses the question 

'What were the sea battles of the Second and Third Dutch Wars really like?' stating that ' Despite narratives and observations in flag-officers journals and elsewhere, the evidence for effective tactical cohesion is slight. It was the squadron commanders of the Red, White and Blue who dictated the form of the battle, even though they could not wholly prevent their own vice-admirals and rear-admirals from fighting independent small divisional actions. In view, moreover, of the individual differences in gunpower of the so called ships-of-the-line, it is scarcely surprising that the 'flagmen' in the big ships, tended to become centres of local engagement.

There was of course a great awareness of the need to co-operate, and particularly of the need to relieve ships in distress. There was also a keen sense of the need to anticipate the next move of the nearest enemy and to take action in advance to cover or relieve ships of another squadron or division rather than merely to safeguard one's own.

All this showed an admirable sense of what a hundred and thirty years later could be characterised as mutual support. It stemmed, however, from tactical anarchy rather than from tactical formalism, which was wisely ignored when deemed necessary, by sophisticated commanders.' 

The Battle of Lowestoft took place on the 13th June 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, when a fleet of more than a hundred ships of the United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer, Lord Obdam, attacked a British fleet of equal size commanded by James, Duke of York, forty miles east of the port of Lowestoft in Suffolk.

Jacob Baron van Wassenaer (1616-65)
attributed to Abraham Willaerts

The battle showed most of the tactical shortcomings characteristic of both wars, with Lord Sandwich recording his observations;

'Whereas our order of battle was a line, that so every ship might have his part in fighting and be clear of his friends from doing them damage, yet many of our ships did not observe it, but luffed up to windward that we were in ranks of 3, 4 or 5 broad, and divers out of reach of the enemy fired over us and several into us and did us hurt.'

Although it was a substantial English victory, the escape of the bulk of the Dutch fleet deprived England of the chance of ending the war quickly with a single decisive victory, and as a result, the Dutch were able to make good their losses by building new and better-armed ships and improving their organisation and discipline. 

Their Dutch fleets would not be so badly organised or ill-disciplined in the remaining battles of this war and, in Obdam's replacement, Michiel de Ruyter, the Dutch had gained a superb tactician and leader for the remainder of the war.

This post follows in a series hosted here on JJ's, showcasing a friend of mine's marvellous collection of 1:1200 collection of Anglo-Dutch warships, which have featured here in a series of posts using the rules General at Sea published by the Pike and Shot Society; with these posts designed to show how these naval battles can be brought to the table and the games they create, combined with the eye-candy this unique period of the age-of-sail has to offer.

If you would like to look back at the previous posts including fleet reviews of the English and Dutch collections, you can follow the link below.

JJ's Wargames - Anglo-Dutch Wars

So with the historic preamble setting the scene for our historic sea-battle summarised, I now have the pleasure of presenting Capt. Steve's scenario based on the opening moves of the Battle of Lowestoft, as recreated using his wonderful collection of model ships and his account of the moves and action from his solo play. The comments around the pictures are direct quotes from Steve to me as he played through each turn.

Setup and Start

Here is the initial set up. Wind from the south west, English on a broad reach and the Dutch beating to windward. I have set them just far enough apart so that whichever wins the initiative, will get ahead of the other, that 'other' side then having to either give way or attempt to breakthrough. 

This could be nasty.

Wind from the south west, English on a broad reach and Dutch beating to

windward.

Turn One

The Dutch won the initiative and moved first. English Vice-Admiral Myngs came into contact with the lead Frisian and was disrupted by its fire.

Undaunted, he attempted to break through and did so, stern taking the Frisian as he did and inflicting level two damage. Once through, the Frisian fired with its port side but as she was firing for the second time in this turn, was disrupted and at level two damage, and thus this caused no further damage to Myngs. 

Vice-Admiral Christopher Myngs (1625-1666)
by Peter Lely

Both Myngs and the Frisian were able to recover from disruption but now Myngs is cut off from the rest of his division unless they also follow him through.

Turn Two

Dutch win the initiative and move first, slowed by the damaged stand leading them. This stand and the Frisian admiral fire on the second English stand, disrupting it twice and so causing level one damaged.

The English stand tries to follow Myngs but as disrupted and damaged fails to break through and so turns to port. Myngs also turns to port and exchanges long range fire with the third Frisian. Both disrupted but recover.

It looks like Myngs will have to pass the whole Dutch line - as one English ship did at Lowestoft - or try to break back through to rejoin his currently out of command division.

Turn Three

Dutch have initiative again and move first. The third English stand turns to port to follow the damaged stand. Both sides firing at close range. The damaged stand is scattered and the other disrupted. The English van narrowly passes its Squadron reaction test. 

Myngs having thrown a six uses his remaining CPs to recover the third stand and himself from disruption but fails to recover the scattered stand.

Close range fire leaves the leading English ship, top centre, damaged and it becomes scattered, whilst the second in line becomes disrupted.

Turn Four

The Scattered stand turns and begins to limp away. The Dutch move first and begin to turn from the second stand, allowing their damaged lead to move off to repair. Close fighting along the line leads to one damage to an English fourth rate. Meanwhile Myngs turns to pass the Dutch rear next turn, sustaining damage level one but recovers from disruption.

The scattered English stand can be seen to have turned and begins to limp away.

Turn Five

The English have the initiative and move first, turning to port in line. Heavy fighting, some at close range results in many stands disrupted and at damage level one. 

'Heavy fighting, some at close range results in many stands disrupted and at damage level one.' 

Myngs turns and takes the rearmost Zealander. One English stand is scattered but the squadron passes its reaction test and Rupert manages to recover it, reducing it to disrupted.

'Myngs turns and takes the rearmost Zealander.'

Turn Six

Rupert launches a fireship at the damaged Frisian opposite him. This, plus the fire from the ship astern, causes the Frisian level two damage and is scattered. 

The squadron passes its reaction test. Firing down the line at long range results in some disruption but these are recovered.

'Rupert launches a fireship at the damaged Frisian opposite him.'

Turn Seven

The firing became general along the line. The scattered Frisian turns to port to try to escape its tormentors and try to put out any fires created by the fireship. Rupert at damage level two is disrupted and is scattered, however the Squadron passes its reaction test. 

Rupert manages to recover from scattered but decides that it is time for him to withdraw because he may not be so lucky next time.

Turn Eight

Rupert has started to pull out of line. Myngs is trying to gather what is left of his command back together. Evertsen in the Zealand flagship considered breaking through the English stand ahead of him but the presence of another English stand behind it, prevents him and he has to veer off. Sadly he does not have enough CPs left to launch his fireship. Other firing is not effective as stands are no longer at close range and are disrupted and damaged.

Rupert withdraws, covered by two of his supports. Firing along the line only causes some stands on both sides to become disrupted. Poor dice throws mean insufficient CPs to recover them.

Turn Nine 

The scattered English stand finally leaves the table. The rear English stand exchanges fire at close range with the third Zeelander. Both cause disruption but as they are both already disrupted, this means they both receive level one damage. Other long range fire has no effect.

End of Turn Ten

Both sides moving out of range, apart from two stands that exchange fire to no effect as they separate. 

I will end the game here.

Both sides have one scattered stand, but the Dutch have seized and retained the weather gauge. Rupert is badly damaged and will need time to recover from disruption and to reduce from level two damage down to one. So, the Dutch are in a better position to resume fighting and I declare them the winners.

Learning points.

1. Keep divisions together. The English van suffered from the loss of Myngs’ leadership once he disappeared behind the Dutch until he appeared at the end of their line.

2. It is vital that commanders retain some CPs to be able to recover disrupted stands.

3. It is also vital that disrupted stands are recovered as soon as possible, otherwise they rapidly go downhill.

4. This game was fought at close range from the start and stands sustained heavy damage from the outset.

5. Lastly, this is the best tool for these rules.

'The best tool for these rules.'

Finally, I have a postscript from Steve from his previous accounts of Livorno and the Dutch Fleet Review.

First up is a view of Steve's model of Livorno harbour that featured in his first AAR of the battle and linked above.

A revised view of Livorno Harbour.

The three ships shown in the Dutch fleet review, illustrating the detail Steve had included in the modelling of the specific stern gallery detail on individual Dutch warships omitted the name of the model at the centre which he has informed me is the Frisian ship Stad en Lande (Town and Country).

The Dutch ship in the centre of this three from the Dutch Fleet review is the Stad en Lande

Thank you to Steve for another entertaining delve into the fascinating Anglo-Dutch naval war and his ideas about recreating these battles using General at Sea.

As always, more anon.

JJ