Battle of Scheveningen
Part of theFirst Anglo-Dutch War
The Battle of Scheveningen, 10 August 1653,Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraaten
Date 31 July 1653 Location OffScheveningen,North Sea 52°06′29″N4°16′23″E / 52.10806°N 4.27306°E /52.10806; 4.27306 Result Seeaftermath
Belligerents
English Commonwealth	Dutch Republic
Commanders and leaders
George Monck	Maarten Tromp †
Strength
130 ships[1] 4,000 guns 17,000 men[2]	125 ships[1] 3,450 guns 13,000 men[2]
Casualties and losses
950–1,200 killed and wounded 2 ships lost[1][3]	2,000 killed and wounded 1,000 captured 12-30 ships lost[2][1]

TheBattle of Scheveningen^[a] was the finalnaval battle of theFirst Anglo-Dutch War. It took place on 31 July 1653^[b] between the fleets of theCommonwealth of England and theDutch Republic. The Dutch fleet suffered heavy losses.

After their victory at theBattle of the Gabbard in June 1653, the English fleet of 120 ships underGeneral at SeaGeorge Monck on his flagshipResolution blockaded the Dutch coast, capturing many merchant vessels.^[4] The Dutch economy began to collapse, with mass unemployment and a severe economic downturn affecting it. On 24 July, Dutch Lieutenant-AdmiralMaarten Tromp put to sea inBrederode with a fleet of 100 ships, to lift the blockade at the island ofTexel, where Vice-AdmiralWitte de With's 27 ships were blockaded by the English. Five days later, the English sighted Tromp and pursued to the south, sinking two Dutch ships before dark but allowing De With to slip out and rendezvous the next day with Tromp offScheveningen, right next to the small village ofTer Heijde, after Tromp had positioned himself by some brilliant maneuvering to the north of the English fleet.

The winds were fierce on 30 July and overnight, giving both fleets pause. Around 7:00 a.m. on 31 July, the Dutch gained an advantage from the weather and attacked, led byBrederode. The fleets moved through each other four times.^[5] Tromp was killed early in the fight by a sharpshooter in the rigging of SirWilliam Penn's ship.^[6] His death was kept secret to keep up the morale of the Dutch but by late afternoon, twelve of their ships had either been sunk or captured and many were too damaged to continue the fight. In the end, morale broke and a large group of vessels under the command of merchant captains fled to the north. De With tried to halt their flight but had to limit himself to covering the retreat to the island of Texel. The English fleet was also badly damaged and with many wounded in urgent need of treatment, returned to port to refit and were unable to maintain the blockade.

• 
  The Battle of Terheide, 10 August 1653: episode from the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652–54) byWillem van de Velde the Elder
• 
  The death of Tromp

Both sides claimed a victory: the English because of their tactical superiority, the Dutch because the strategic goal of their attack, the lifting of the blockade, had been achieved. However, Tromp's death was a severe blow to the Dutch – few now expected to beat the English; theOrangist faction lost political influence andGrand PensionaryJohan de Witt was willing to give formal treaty assurances toCromwell that the infantWilliam III of Orange would never becomestadtholder, thus turning the Netherlands into a base for aStuart restoration. Peace negotiations began in earnest, leading to the 1654Treaty of Westminster.

The damage done to the Dutch fleet effectively ended the first war.^[7]

• Lawrence, Richard Russell (2003),The mammoth book of eyewitness naval battles (illustrated, reprint ed.), Carroll & Graf, pp. 92–94,ISBN 9780786712380
• Plant, David (15 March 2010),The Battle of Scheveningen 1653, BCW Project, retrieved1 November 2013^{[self-published source]}
• Rickard, J. (19 August 2009),Battle of Scheveningen, 31 July 1653, retrieved1 November 2013
• Palmer, M. A.J. (April 1997). "The 'Military Revolution' Afloat: The Era of the Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Transition to Modern Warfare at Sea".War in History.4 (2):123–149.doi:10.1177/096834459700400201.JSTOR 26004420.S2CID 159657621.
• Prud'homme van Reine, Ronald (2009).Opkomst en Ondergang van Nederlands Gouden Vloot – Door de ogen van de zeeschilders Willem van de Velde de Oude en de Jonge. Amsterdam: De Arbeiderspers.ISBN 978-90-295-6696-4.
• Blok, P.J. (1928).Michiel de Ruyter(PDF) (in Dutch). Martinus Nijhof.

• 1653 in Europe
• Conflicts in 1653
• Naval battles of the First Anglo-Dutch War
• George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle
• Military history of the North Sea

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use British English from March 2020
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from March 2020
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• All accuracy disputes
• Accuracy disputes from November 2013
• CS1 Dutch-language sources (nl)
• Pages using the Kartographer extension