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History

French: Bataille de Béveziers or Bataille du cap Béveziers; traditional Dutch name: Battle of Bevesier.
was a naval battle near Beachy Head, South England, fought on July 10, 1690 as part of the Nine Years' War. The naval battle was fought between the British-Dutch fleet under Admiral Arthur Torrington and the French fleet under De Tourville.

Endesor

Willem III (Dutch William) was since 1688 (Glorious Revolution) king of England and governor of the Dutch Republic. The deposed Catholic King James I tried to recapture his throne via Ireland with the support of Louis XIV of France. The strong French fleet sailed into the Channel at the end of June. The Allied fleet, led by Admiral Arthur Torrington and the Zeeland Admiral Cornelis Evertsen, was numerically inferior. Torrington did not yet want to confront. However, he was explicitly instructed by the English cabinet of war under Queen Maria to fight.

Historicair

The Battle
Both fleets formed their battle line near Eastbourne. The Allies formed three squadrons. The Dutch admiral Evertsen led the white squadron (22 ships) and formed the vanguard, Torrington formed the center with red squadron and the rear squadron, the blue squadron, consisted of English and Dutch ships led by Ralph Delaval.

In the battle that followed, the Dutch squadron was mainly attacked and largely destroyed. of the 22 Dutch ships, only 3 remained deployable. 8 line ships were lost. All but one (HMS Resolution) were Dutch ships. The French did not lose a single ship during the battle.

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Aftermath
Although the French now controlled the sea, they let the two English squadrons and the remnants of the Dutch squadron escape to the mouth of the Thames. The French did not lose 1 ship.
Admiral Torrington was accused afterwards that he had done far too little to help the Dutch squadron. He was court-martialed but acquitted.
The French achieved the victory but did not exploit it. The British fleet was able to recover. The State fleet, on the other hand, would never become the old one again.
French Admiral Tourville was heavily criticized for failing to exploit this advantage after his big win. He was then released from his command.
Torrington did not fare much better, although he was acquitted, but was fired by King William III as commander of the English fleet.

Description

Dutch Ships lost

NameYearTypeArmaCommander
Suikermolen?Fireship4Abraham van Brakel
Kroonvogel1665Fireship6Thameszoon
Maagd van Enkhuizen?Ship of the line 72Jan van der Poel
Friesland1685Ship of the line68Philips van der Goes
Noord Holland1688Ship of the line72Jan Didk (r-a)
Gekroonde Burch1682Ship of the line62Karel van de Putte (V-a)
Wapen van Utrecht1665Ship of the line64Pieter Claassen Decker
Tholen1688Ship of the line60Cornelis Calis
Elswoud1677Ship of the line50Adriaan Noortheij

References

Down on 14 November

Wrecks of Flevoland

Burgzand Noord

13 Provinces

Dutch Presence in Cuba