The Battle of Lowestoft took place on 13 June [O.S. 3 June] 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. A fleet of more than a hundred ships of the United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer, Lord Obdam, attacked an English fleet of equal size commanded by James, Duke of York, forty miles east of the port of Lowestoft in Suffolk.
The Battle of Lowestoft, Adriaen Van Diest
Battle of Lowestoft, by Hendrik van Minderhout.
The Second Anglo-Dutch War, or Second Dutch War, began on 4 March 1665, and concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Breda on 31 July 1667. One in a series of naval conflicts between England and the Dutch Republic, its causes were a combination of political differences and commercial disputes.
The Four Days' Battle, 1–4 June 1666, by Abraham Storck
Ships in Amsterdam harbour, c. 1690; in the second half of the 17th century, Dutch merchants dominated European trade
HMS Sovereign of the Seas, with its architect Peter Pett; built in 1634, it carried over 100 guns, while the largest Dutch ships had a complement of 60 to 70
The Four Days' Battle as depicted by Abraham Storck