Battle of Leghorn

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Battle of Leghorn
Part of the First Anglo-Dutch War
Reinier Nooms - De zeeslag bij Livorno.jpg
The Battle of Leghorn, 4 March 1653 by Reinier Nooms, painted mid-17th century
Date4 March 1653
Location
near Leghorn, Italy
Result Dutch victory
Belligerents
Flag of The Commonwealth.svg  Commonwealth of England Statenvlag.svg  United Provinces
Commanders and leaders
Henry Appleton
Richard Badiley
Johan van Galen  (DOW)
Strength
15 warships 16 warships
Casualties and losses
2 ships sunk
3 ships captured
150 dead or injured
50 captured
Unknown

The naval Battle of Leghorn [lower-alpha 1] took place on 4 March 1653 (14 March Gregorian calendar), [lower-alpha 2] during the First Anglo-Dutch War, near Leghorn (Livorno), Italy. It was a victory of a Dutch squadron under Commodore Johan van Galen over an English squadron under Captain Henry Appleton. Afterwards, another English squadron under Captain Richard Badiley, which Appleton had been trying to join up with, reached the scene in time to observe the capture of the last ships of Appleton's squadron, but was outnumbered and forced to return to Porto Longone.

Contents

Background

In 1652 the government of the Commonwealth of England, mistakenly believing that the United Provinces after their defeat at the Battle of the Kentish Knock would desist from bringing out fleets so late in the season, split their fleet between the Mediterranean and home waters. This division of forces led to a defeat at the Battle of Dungeness in December 1652, and by early 1653 the situation in the Mediterranean was critical too. Appleton's squadron of six ships (including four hired merchantmen) was trapped in Leghorn by a blockading Dutch fleet of 16 ships, while Richard Badiley's of eight (also including four hired merchantmen) was at Elba.

The only hope for the English was to combine their forces, but Appleton sailed too soon and engaged with the Dutch before Badiley could come up to help. Three of his ships were captured and two destroyed and only one (Mary), sailing faster than the Dutch ships, escaped to join Badiley. Badiley engaged the Dutch, but was heavily outnumbered and retreated.

The battle gave the Dutch command of the Mediterranean, placing the English trade with the Levant at their mercy, but Van Galen was mortally wounded, dying on 13 March.

One of the Dutch captains at the battle was son of Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp, Cornelis Tromp, who was to become a famous admiral himself.

Ships involved

United Provinces of the Netherlands

Johan van Galen

The battle of Leghorn. Johannes Lingelbach The Battle of Livorno (Leghorn) march 14 1653 (Johannes Lingelbach, 1660).jpg
The battle of Leghorn. Johannes Lingelbach
The Battle of Leghorn, 1653 by Willem van Diest. Van Diest, Battle of Leghorn.jpg
The Battle of Leghorn, 1653 by Willem van Diest .
Johan van Galen becomes mortally wounded during battle Johan van Galen raakt gewond in de zeeslag bij Livorno, 1653 1653 Jan van Galen voor Livorno gewond (titel op object), RP-P-OB-81.795 (cropped).jpg
Johan van Galen becomes mortally wounded during battle

The Eendracht and Jonge Prins were ships of the Noorderkwartier Admiralty, all the others (including the hired merchantmen) pertained to the Amsterdam Admiralty.

Commonwealth of England

Capt. Henry Appleton's squadron

Capt. Richard Badiley's squadron

The fireship is listed as Charity in Mariner's Mirror vol. 49, but according to Mariner's Mirror vol. 24 that ship was expended during an action off Plymouth on 27 August 1652.

Notes

  1. the Dutch call the encounter by the Italian name Livorno
  2. During this period in English history dates of events are usually recorded in the Julian calendar, while those the Netherlands are recorded in the Gregorian calendar. In this article dates are in the Julian calendar with the start of the year adjusted to 1 January (see Old Style and New Style dates).

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    References