Battle of Solebay The naval Battle of Solebay took place on 28 May Old Style , 7 June New Style 1672 and was the first naval battle of the Third Anglo - Dutch War . The battle . A fleet of 75 ships , 20 , 738 men and 4 , 484 cannon of the United Provinces , commanded by Lieutenant - Admirals Michiel de Ruyter , Adriaen Banckert and Willem Joseph van Ghent , surprised a joint Anglo - French fleet of 93 ships , 34 , 496 men and 6 , 018 cannon at anchor in Solebay ( nowadays Sole Bay ) , near Southwold in Suffolk , on the east coast of England . The Duke of York and Vice - Admiral Comte Jean II d ' Estrées planned to blockade the Dutch in their home ports and deny the North Sea to Dutch shipping . The Dutch had hoped to repeat the success of the Raid on the Medway and a frigate squadron under Van Ghent sailed up the Thames in May but discovered that Sheerness Fort was now too well prepared to pass . The Dutch main fleet came too late , mainly due to coordination problems between the five Dutch admiralties , to prevent a joining of the English and French fleets . It followed the Allied fleet to the north , which , unaware of this , put in at Solebay to refit . On 7 June the Allies were caught by surprise and got into disarray when the Dutch fleet , having the weather gauge , suddenly appeared on the horizon in the early morning . The French fleet , whether through accident or design , steered south followed by Banckert ' s fifteen ships and limited its action to long - distance fire . Nevertheless the " Superbe " was heavily damaged and des Rabesnières killed by fire from Enno Doedes Star ' s " Groningen " ; total French casualties were about 450 . This left the Dutch van and centre to fight it out with the English , and the latter were hard pressed , as they had great difficulty to beat up the wind to bring ships out . The Duke of York had to move his flag twice , finally to " London " , as his flagships " Prince " and " St Michael " were taken out of action . The " Prince " was crippled by De Ruyter ' s flagship " De Zeven Provinciën " in a two hours ' duel . De Ruyter was accompanied by the representative of the States - General of the Netherlands , Cornelis de Witt ( the brother of Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt ) who bravely remained seated on the main deck , although half of his guard of honour standing next to him was killed or wounded . Lieutenant - Admiral Aert Jansse van Nes on the " Eendracht " first duelled Vice - Admiral Edward Spragge on HMS " London " and then was attacked by HMS " Royal Katherine " . The latter ship was then so heavily damaged that Captain John Chichely struck her flag and was taken prisoner ; the Dutch prize crew however got drunk on the brandy found and allowed the ship to be later recaptured by the English . The flagship of Admiral Edward Montagu , 1st Earl of Sandwich , HMS " Royal James " , was first fiercely engaged by Lieutenant - Admiral Van Ghent , who in 1667 had executed the Raid on the Medway , on " Dolfijn " . Van Ghent was however killed by shrapnel . Then captain Jan van Brakel made his " Groot Hollandia " attach to the " Royal James " , incessantly pounding the hull of that ship for over an hour and bringing her into such a condition that Lord Sandwich considered to strike his flag but decided against it because it was beneath his honour to surrender to a mere captain of low birth . He then ordered sloops from other ships to board the " Groot Hollandia " ; his upper deck soon swarming with Englishmen Van Brakel was forced to cut the lines and retreat between friendly vessels to drive the boarding teams off . The " Royal James " now drifted away , sinking , and was attacked by several fire ship s . She sank two , but a third , " Vrede " , commanded by Jan Daniëlszoon van den Rijn , its approach shielded by Vice - Admiral Isaac Sweers ' s " Oliphant " , set her on fire . She burnt with great loss of life ; Sandwich himself and his son - in - law Philip Carteret drowned trying to escape when his sloop collapsed under the weight of panicked sailors jumping in ; his body washed ashore , only recognisable by the scorched clothing still showing the shield of the Order of the Garter . During the battle the wind shifted , now giving the English the benefit of the weather gage ; in the late afternoon the Dutch withdrew . Losses were heavy on both sides : one Dutch ship , the " Jozua " , was destroyed and another , the " Stavoren " , captured , a third Dutch ship had an accident during repairs immediately after the battle and blew up . The battle ended inconclusively at sunset . Both sides claimed victory , the Dutch with the more justification as the English - French plan to blockade the Dutch was abandoned . The fleets met again at the Battle of Schooneveld in 1673 . Ship List . Not all fireships are listed ; there were about 24 of them on the Allied , 36 on the Dutch side .