Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp or Maarten van Tromp was an army general and admiral in the Dutch navy during much of the Eighty Years' War and throughout the First Anglo-Dutch War. Son of a ship's captain, Tromp spent much of his childhood at sea, during which time he was captured by pirates and enslaved by Barbary corsairs. In adult life, he became a renowned ship captain and naval commander, successfully leading Dutch forces fighting for independence in the Eighty Years' War, and then against England in the First Anglo-Dutch War, proving an innovative tactician and enabling the newly independent Dutch nation to become a major sea power. He was killed in battle by a sharpshooter from an English ship. Several ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy have carried the name HNLMS Tromp after him and/or his son Cornelis, also a Dutch admiral of some renown.
A portrait of Tromp by Jan Lievens.
Maarten van Tromp by Jan Lievens
Ships in the First Anglo-Dutch War, 1652, by Abraham Willaerts
Battle of Scheveningen, Tromp's final battle
The Royal Netherlands Navy is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is one of the four Netherlands Armed Forces. It was founded on 8 January 1488, making it the third-oldest naval force in the world.
The Battle of Scheveningen in 1653 during the First Anglo-Dutch War
HNLMS Java, ca. 1941
Piet de Jong, commanding officer of HNLMS Gelderland in 1958
The Standing NRF Maritime Group 1 in 2007 with HNLMS Evertsen second from the right