Jacob Van Wassenaer Obdam - New Tactics

New Tactics

In 1654 the Dutch Navy had a new commander, Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam, Lieutenant-Admiral of Holland and West Frisia - and a complete amateur. This inexperienced man now had to solve the fundamental problem facing the Dutch fleet in that century: how to beat an enemy who was equipped with much more powerful ships. As the Dutch home waters were so shallow building very heavy ships was out of the question. De Witt had just convinced the States to spend four million guilders on a programme of sixty new warships but although these, carrying mostly about 44 cannon, were a lot heavier than the average Dutch ship of the last war, they were still little more than frigates by English standards. The typical solution when fighting Spanish galleons had always been the direct attack having the weather gauge, using superior maneuverability and numbers, or if that failed: employing fireships and boarding. Against the English however this was generally unsuccessful; they were at least as competent in these aggressive tactics and they had too many ships. Maarten Tromp then tried an informal line of battle, but this ploy came back with a vengeance. Robert Blake created a very formal version that worked even better for the English as they had very powerful ships and a more professional navy - the Dutch had to employ many armed merchants.

Studying Blake's Sailing and Fighting Instructions Van Wassenaer saw a new solution to the old problem. Now that a professional Dutch Navy was being created, this navy surely would soon be the equal in competence of the British one. That left only the inequality in firepower to be solved. He understood that this could be achieved by abandoning the traditional aggressive stance and embracing defense. Sailing in a battle line in a defensive leeward position, the wind, blowing from the side of the enemy, would give the guns of the Dutch ships a higher elevation and therefore a better range. That same wind would decrease the range of the enemy ships or even force them to close the gun ports of their lower gun deck - that carried the heaviest guns. So this became Van Wassenaer's favorite method: damage the enemy ships from a safe distance and then disengage. Whether the enemy was destroyed or your own fleet damaged too was immaterial. With their superior shipbuilding capacity the Dutch could always make quicker repairs. Simply keeping the enemy fleet inoperational would suffice. Dutch trade wouldn't be disturbed and while a few battles might well deplete the enemy's treasury, the Republic would always have plenty of reserves. In Van Wassenaer's opinion naval warfare was a gigantic battle of attrition that the Dutch were guaranteed to win.