Battle of Leghorn


The naval Battle of Leghorn took place on 4 March 1653,
during the First Anglo-Dutch War, near Leghorn, 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.

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 was trapped in Leghorn by a blockading Dutch fleet of 16 ships, while Richard Badiley's of eight 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, 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 and one of the most celebrated and controversial figures in Dutch naval history due to his actions in the Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Scanian War.

Ships involved

United Provinces of the Netherlands

Johan van Galen
  • Vereenigde Provincien/''Zeven Provincien 40
  • Eendracht 40
  • Maan 40
  • Ter Goes 40
  • Zon 40
  • Zutphen 36
  • Maagd van Enkhuysen 34
  • Jonge Prins 28
  • Julius Caesar 28
  • Witte Olifant 28
  • Madonna della Vigna 28 - Ran aground north of Livorno harbor, but salved
  • Susanna 28
  • Zwarte Arend 28
  • Salomons Oordeel 28
  • Roode Haes 28
  • Ster 28
The Eendracht and Jonge Prins'' were ships of the Noorderkwartier Admiralty, all the others pertained to the Amsterdam Admiralty.

Commonwealth of England

Capt. Henry Appleton's squadron
  • [English ship English ship Bonaventure (1621)|Bonaventure (1621)|Bonaventure] 44 - Blown up by Vereenigde Provincien
  • Leopard 48 - Captured
  • Samson 40 - Burnt by fireship
  • Mary 30
  • Peregrine 30 - Captured by Zwarte Arend
  • Levant Merchant 28/30? - Captured by Maagd van Enkhuysen
Capt. Richard Badiley's squadron
  • Paragon 52
  • Phoenix 36
  • Elizabeth 36
  • Constant Warwick 32
  • Mary Rose 32
  • Lewis 30
  • William and Thomas 30
  • Thomas Bonaventure 28
  • ?
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.