The Battle of Dungeness, 30th November 1652 - General at Sea.

In the previous post, link below, Capt. Steve picked up the situation that developed after the Battle of Kentish Knock, the subject of his previous refight, and laid out his orders of battle and battle set up for the battle of Dungeness as Blake and Tromp renewed their struggle for control of the English Channel.

 

JJ's Wargames - The Battle of Dungeness, Planning & Preparation

As in the previous games Steve is using General at Sea by Iain Stanford and incorporating as yet unpublished rule updates.

As mentioned in the Planning and Preparation post, Blake's fleet was much reduced since Kentish knock following the relocating of several of his squadrons to the Baltic and Mediterranean under the assumption that the Dutch would be in no immediate position to pose a challenge so soon after their recent defeat.

This decision was to be proved wrong as the resourceful Tromp, who took command of the Dutch fleet, made rapid progress to restore morale and ships to create a force ready and able to challenge the English and escort a Dutch convoy past the Downs, in the December of 1652.

The setup for the game picks up the situation as Tromp tracked Blake's movement along the Kent coast with shoals keeping the two fleets beyond cannon range but now seeing Blake forced to turn south as the the Dungeness headland loomed into view.

With a strong wind from the north-west, Blake had the weather gauge, but with the shorter winter day leaving just eight turns of daylight for the two fleets to conclude matters before darkness would bring any fighting to and end.

Blake's smaller fleet can be seen to the left (note each model stand can represent three to four actual ships as laid out in the orders of battle above) as Dungeness headland looms into view and a fight with the Dutch fleet under Tromp is inevitable, when Blake makes his turn. 

Steve picks up the narrative:

At the end of Turn One and Blake begins to to turn to avoid the shallows off Dungeness headland, whilst Tromp prepares to tack and attack.

Turn One - Blake begins to to turn to avoid the shallows off Dungeness

End of Turn Two and Tromp, Evertsen and de Ruyter tack seeing three Dutch stands fail their tack test, become disrupted, but manage to recover, as Blake speeds up making best use of a beam wind.

 

Turn Two - The Dutch have tacked as the English make best speed with a beam wind.

End of Turn Three and the Dutch close in, beating against the north-west wind, as Blake slows his progress to allow his squadron to close up as he opens fire at long range to no effect.

Turn Three - The English open ineffectual fire at long range.

End of Turn Four and Tromp and his second exchange long range fire with Blake and his leading stand, leaving no damage to the English, but Tromp receives level 1 damage.

Turn Four - Tromp comes of worse in the first exchange of fire between the leading elements of the English and Dutch fleets.

One of de Ruyter's squadron clips the shoals and goes aground.

Turn Four - One of de Ruyter's squadron clips the shoals and goes aground.

End of Turn Five and the fighting intensifies as Blake passes Tromp and turns back in support of his squadron whilst Tromp and his second receive damage in the close range exchanges with Blake's squadron that sees Tromp scattered but able to recover and survive his 'risk to the C-in-C' test.

Turn Five - The fighting intensifies and Tromp and his second receive damage in the close range exchanges with Blake's squadron.

Further along the English line, Lane opens fire at long range but to no effect.

Turn Five - Lane opens fire at long range but to no effect.

End of Turn Six and Tromp is raked by Blake's second and is now at level 2 damage and disrupted, whilst more of Tromp's squadron receive damage as do Everten's as they close the range with Lane.

Turn Six - Tromp is raked by Blake's second and is left at level 2 damage and disrupted, whilst more of Tromp's squadron receive damage as do Everten's as they close the range with Lane.

End of Turn Seven and the rearmost stand of Lane's squadron is raked and broken through by de Ruyter, but other Dutch stands fail to break through, having now been raked as they came into contact.

Turn Seven - The fighting around Lane's squadron leaves his rearmost stand raked and broken through by de Ruyter.

Blake breaks through a Dutch stand as he returns to aid his squadron.

Turn Seven - Blake keeps up the pressure as he breaks through a Dutch stand and returns to the fight around his squadron.

End of Turn Eight and the stand at the rear of Lane's squadron is raked again and left at level 2 damage and disrupted is only just holding on. However Tromp is taking a battering from Blake as Floriszoon's squadron finally comes to his rescue.

Turn Eight - Lane's rearmost stand is raked again and left at level 2 damage and disrupted, whilst Tromp is taking a battering from Blake.

Both fleets were firing away for all they were worth as darkness fell and night brought the game to an end.

Steve's assessment of the fight:

Tromp managed to bring his numbers to bear but the Dutch were finding it hard to damage the more powerful English ships, even at close range, with their best prospect being to overwhelm the smaller English hired merchantmen at the rear.

Thank you to Steve for a very entertaining exploration of some of the key battles of the First Anglo-Dutch War with his lovely collection of models, and I know he is contemplating how to produce some games for the Second and Third Wars as well as an idea around using his respective fleets as stand-ins for some Baltic Wars action between the Swedes and Danes.

So hopefully we will see some more 17th century naval action with General at Sea here on JJ's. In the meantime, I've been off on my travels and will be picking back up on the career of one of England's and Britain's greatest admirals, Robert Blake, when I visit the scene of one of his greatest victories, recorded by his opponents as a defeat.

As always, more anon.

JJ