Qualla: Battle of the Gabbard https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-gabbard en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:32 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of the Gabbard https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-gabbard Battle of the Gabbard: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-gabbard/ On the morning of 2 June 1653, Maarten Tromp brought ninety-eight Dutch warships down on the English fleet off the Gabbard shoal, expecting to do what Dutch admirals had been doing for half a century: sail in close, grapple, board, take the prize. Instead he found a hundred English ships drawn out in a line, broadside to broadside, refusing to mix. Every time he tried to close, English heavy guns fired into him from beyond pistol range. The Dutch fleet was crewed with extra soldiers for boarding. The soldiers had nothing to board. After two days of this, Tromp had lost twenty ships and the English had lost none. He had just been the first admiral in history to be beaten by the line of battle, and naval warfare would never look the same again.

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]]> Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/1/p/battle-of-the-gabbard-wp/u11p-battle-of-the-gabbard-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of the Gabbard: Two Fleets, Two Philosophies https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-gabbard/ The English commanders were Generals at Sea George Monck and Richard Deane, with Admirals John Lawson and William Penn, the second of whom would later father the founder of Pennsylvania. Their fleet was big and gun-heavy. English doctrine, hammered out earlier that year after the...

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]]> Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/1/p/battle-of-the-gabbard-wp/u11p-battle-of-the-gabbard-two-fleets-two-philosophies.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of the Gabbard: Day One: The Wall Holds https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-gabbard/ The Dutch came in with the weather gauge. Tromp tried to break the English line and get among them for a boarding fight. The English ships held their formation. Witte de With, Tromp's vice-admiral, hit the centre of the English line. Lawson met him. The broadsides went in. Dutch ...

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]]> Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/1/p/battle-of-the-gabbard-wp/u11p-battle-of-the-gabbard-day-one-the-wall-holds.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of the Gabbard: Day Two: Blake Arrives, Tromp's Wind Dies https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-gabbard/ Robert Blake, the third of the three Generals at Sea and recovering from wounds taken at Portland, came up on the morning of 3 June with a fresh squadron of eighteen ships. Tromp now faced an enemy who outnumbered him, outgunned him, and held the line. He attacked anyway. He had ...

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]]> Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/1/p/battle-of-the-gabbard-wp/u11p-battle-of-the-gabbard-day-two-blake-arrives-tromps-wind-dies.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of the Gabbard: A New Way to Fight https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-gabbard/ The Battle of the Gabbard was the first decisive naval action of the gunpowder age won by the line of battle. The doctrine that the English Generals at Sea had been writing into Fighting Instructions over the previous year proved itself here against the best fleet in the world. O...

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]]> Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/1/p/battle-of-the-gabbard-wp/u11p-battle-of-the-gabbard-a-new-way-to-fight.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of the Gabbard: Aftermath https://qualla.com/battle-of-the-gabbard/ The English exploited the victory hard. Blake imposed a blockade of the Dutch coast that strangled the Republic's overseas trade and crippled its merchants. The fleets met again seven weeks later at the Battle of Scheveningen, off the Dutch coast, in late July 1653. Tromp was kil...

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]]> Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/1/p/battle-of-the-gabbard-wp/u11p-battle-of-the-gabbard-aftermath.mp3 0:06 6 full